5.O. Scientific session: Exploring incidence and access to care for migrants and ethnic minorities with long-COVID

Abstract   The COVID-19 pandemic disproportionately affected migrants and ethnic minorities throughout Europe leading to the assumption that long-COVID would also affect these groups to a larger extent than the majority populations. So far, the few studies on long-covid including data on migrants and ethnic minorities suggest that they are also disproportionately impacted by long-covid, but conclusive findings are lacking in European countries and beyond. However, a large number of migrants and ethnic minorities suffering from long-COVID is a major concern for equity in health. Given that migrants and ethnic minorities are more likely to experience barriers to health services, it may also be the case in terms of their ability to access services for long-covid. This would have an unknown impact on long-COVID related. Further, long-COVID may have more far-reaching implications among these populations as they are often more socio-economically vulnerable, holding more temporary jobs with a greater job insecurity. Consequently, unattended long-COVID among migrants and ethnic minorities is likely to exacerbate existing social inequalities and inequalities in health. The aim of the workshop is therefore to discuss different novel perspectives on long-COVID among migrants and ethnic minorities to share their insights from recently published or upcoming studies with leading scientific researchers on the topic. We include both qualitative and quantitative studies focusing on both the incidence and risk factors and on experiences with diagnostic pathways in accessing health care services for long-COVID. We have invited four researchers representing four different European countries to obtain a diversity of perspectives with different country contexts. The format of the workshop is a scientific session. After an introduction by the chair, four researchers will present new studies and different perspectives on long-COVID among migrants and ethnic minorities. Each presenter will have 7 min for presentation and 3 minutes for questions. After the presenters there are 20 minutes for discussion headed by the co-chair. Key messages • Document and discuss the effect of the pandemic regarding long-COVID on some of the most hard hit populations. • Lessons learned that can inform future pandemic policy and structural efforts to reach the most vulnerable.