Vulnerability of indigenous women in Yucatan peninsula in COVID-19 pandemic times

Abstract

The vulnerability of indigenous women in the Yucatan Peninsula has become evident since the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the conditions of inequality and poverty they lived in prior to the health contingency, which is reflected in the precarious access to health care they have. Therefore, it is proposed to analyze the conditions of vulnerability to the COVID-19 pandemic faced by the population under study through the characterization of infections in indigenous women. The conceptual framework discusses how inequality has generated processes of vulnerability in terms of infection, lethality and access to health care for indigenous women, compared to non-indigenous women. In terms of methodology, we worked with the database of the General Directorate of Epidemiology of the Ministry of Health from Mexico, which records the reported infections of COVID-19. This database is disaggregated at the state and municipal levels, as well as by public and private hospitals. Data were analyzed from the first case to April 30, 2021. The results of the research were conclusive in the sense that, in most of the variables analyzed, such as health history of hypertension, diabetes, pneumonia and pregnancy, access to public and private health care, and even the percentage of deaths due to infection, indigenous women were more affected than non-indigenous women, revealing a scenario of greater vulnerability for them.