The COVID toll turns the spotlight on the European taboo of data by race

LISBON (Reuters) – Many European countries shy away from breaking down data along racial or ethnic lines out of concerns about privacy or discrimination, but COVID-19’s outsized impact on blacks and Asian people has revealed flaws in the approach. said some scientists and activists.

They want more comprehensive data collection across the continent to improve understanding of how and why COVID-19 affects different communities and thus help countries tailor tests and treatments to better protect them.

There is no easy solution. Even in Britain, where more detailed data on race and ethnicity are available, there is debate about the root causes of higher infections among certain groups.

The conditions in which people live and work explain most of the disproportionate impact, studies show. The fact that minority communities trust hospital staff for fair treatment or have equal access to health care could also play a role.

A recent survey by ClearView in the UK, for example, showed that 60% of people of color did not believe their health was as protected by the National Health Service as whites.

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Michelle Bachelet, earlier this year said more comprehensive data in countries like Brazil, Britain and the United States served an important purpose.

“The data tells us of a devastating impact from COVID-19 on people of African descent, as well as ethnic minorities in some countries,” he said.

“In many other places, we expect similar patterns to be occurring, but we are unable to say for sure as data by race and ethnicity are simply not being collected or reported.”

Spurred on by both the pandemic and the Black Lives Matter protests, the European Union promised in September to examine obstacles to harmonizing data collection across Europe.

He said he wanted to understand “the structural aspects of racism and discrimination” and a panel discussion on the issue is scheduled for the end of 2021, the European Commission told Reuters.

Some human rights groups and researchers who have been asking for more comprehensive data for decades were skeptical that the move would be enough to make a big difference.

“I don’t want just another report,” said Mamadou Ba, head of the Portuguese anti-racism organization, SOS Racismo. “We’ve heard it before. We need targeted action “.

DATA AS A POLITICAL TOOL

The disaggregation of data to reveal patterns across population subgroups can be used to address inequality.

In the United States, ethnicity data allowed authorities to identify that HIV / AIDS rates were growing significantly faster among African Americans and Hispanics than the general population, prompting the development of targeted programs to reduce infection in these groups.

Last April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention began collecting data from states for weekly monitoring of COVID-19 infections and deaths by breed.

But most countries in Europe have been less willing to record the racial makeup of their societies, sticking to a “colorblind” model of immigrant assimilation.

A history of state persecution in Nazi Germany and beyond has left some groups such as the Roma reluctant to register their ethnicity.

Instead, the authorities use proxies such as the parents’ place of birth, language or religion.

In Germany, a study on the extent to which migration background affects the search for work, accommodation and treatment by businesses, local councils and the police is currently under discussion.

But this approach leaves gaps, its critics say. A black child born in Europe to parents also born in Europe would be invisible in such statistics.

In the absence of comprehensive data, agencies such as the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) and research institutes like INED in France conducted smaller studies to delineate racial inequalities before and during the pandemic.

FRA conducted a survey of 6,000 people of color in 12 Member States in 2019, showing that people of color in the European Union are three times more likely than their white counterparts to live in overcrowded housing, with 55% even or below the poverty line.

US and UK studies have shown that such conditions can exacerbate coronavirus vulnerability.

In France, government spokeswoman Sibeth Ndiaye asked to review the debate on ethnicity data, but was rejected by the president’s office. [nL8N2DS5JM]

In July, however, the National Institute of Statistics and Economic Studies (INSEE) published the country of birth of the coronavirus victims in March and April.

Mortality for those born in sub-Saharan Africa increased 114% in 2020 compared to 22% for residents of French descent, the data showed.

EPICOV, the country’s national coronavirus infection study, provides case data among first- and second-generation immigrants.

But what is needed, some researchers argue, is to know whether black people are more likely to die once infected: both French migrants and non-whites.

“Your likelihood of getting the infection depends on how you live,” said INED’s Patrick Simon.

“But the real question is: what happens when you are sick? Are you taken seriously in health services? Are you treated well? Do you wait longer? And is there a link to running? “

GIVE DATA TO ACTION?

In Britain, where ethnicity data collection has been going on for several decades, there is debate on how to respond to studies showing that poverty or housing overcrowding among ethnic minorities is largely the cause of infection rates from higher coronaviruses.

The equality think tank, the Runnymede Trust and the IPPR research institute, reported in October that an additional 58,000 people would have died in Britain’s first wave of coronavirus if the white population faced the same risk as black communities.

But Raghib Ali, a government advisor on coronavirus and ethnicity, argued that ethnicity was a proxy for other forms of risk and did not deserve to be classified as a separate risk factor. [nL8N2HC684]

A June Public Health England (PHE) report suggested that people of black, Asian and minority ethnic backgrounds may be less likely to seek assistance due to racism.

But Ali said in October that there was no evidence that minorities were being treated differently in the hospital.

“They didn’t present any objective evidence,” Ali said of the PHE report. “I don’t think structural racism is a reasonable explanation.”

Halima Begum, director of the Runnymede Trust, disagrees.

“We know that racism limits people’s access to services, from health to housing,” he told Reuters.

“The unions have told us that minorities are less likely to challenge their bosses to continue working during the pandemic. They are often more reluctant to enter the health system for fear of not being treated well. “

Also in France, supporters say the response to INSEE data and lessons from Britain show that even with the available data, the battle is showing that disproportionate socioeconomic disadvantage is partly caused by racial discrimination.

“Of course, they are dying because they are poor,” said Stephanie Mulot, a sociologist who works on racial inequality in France.

“But why is it so likely that they are poor? It is accumulated discrimination: in access to a comfortable home, to health care, to work. This is what we want to demonstrate “.