Fig 1. Illustration of the impact of fundamental causes on inequity in infection through multiple intervening mechanisms and multiple outcomes.

The figure illustrates key relationships between high-level fundamental causes of social inequality (parallelograms) on risks of infection and disease progression (rectangles) via their impact on more-proximal risks for exposure, severe disease upon infection and death (diamonds). Solid lines represent flows between disease states, while dotted lines illustrate relationships between risk factors and their impacts on susceptibility to infection acquisition and the rate of progression through escalating phases of disease severity. For visual clarity, only a subset of potential relationships is illustrated. For example, racism impacts vulnerability and access to care directly as well as indirectly, and SES and wealth often contributes to residential segregation. SES, socioeconomic status.