Episode 3: Systems of Survival: When Public Health Forgets the Margins: Animals, Disease & Inequality

Jessica Vasquez-Luna's "Systems of Survival" series examines how the pandemic exposed long-standing inequalities in health, labor, and policy. Each essay traces how race, class, and geography shaped vulnerability—from frontline workers and overcrowded housing to medical mistrust and systemic neglect. It also explores resilience through community-led responses, the ongoing impact of long COVID-19, and the intersection of holistic and institutional medical care. The third episode, “When Public Health Forgets the Margins: Animals, Disease and Inequality” highlights how zoonotic diseases exacerbate environmental disruption and structural inequality. A virus will move through ecosystems through animals, environments and communities who cary the weight of structural inequality. In our populations, we can see how human-animal interactions shape disease risk long before an outbreak occurs. While COVID-19 highlighted zoonotic disease globally, many communities have lived with this reality for decades. Zoonoses disproportionately affect low-income areas, where close contact between humans, livestock, and wildlife, coupled with inadequate infrastructure and sanitation, is common. Zoonoses are frequently underreported in low- and middle-income countries. Individuals who depend on animals for their livelihoods face heightened exposure and have limited access to support and resources. Climate change and alterations in land use are driving wildlife into closer proximity with human populations, thereby increasing the risk of viral transmission between species. Consequently, underserved communities are often unfairly blamed for "unsafe practices" instead of acknowledging the systemic factors at play.