SOCIAL WORK IN PUBLIC HEALTH, cilt.39, sa.1, ss.1-15, 2024 (SSCI)
Refugees are more vulnerable to COVID-19 due to factors such as low
standard of living, accommodation in crowded households, difficulty in
receiving health care due to high treatment costs in some countries, and
inability to access public health and social services. The increasing income
inequalities, anxiety about providing minimum living conditions, and fear of
being unemployed compel refugees to continue their jobs, and this affects
the number of cases and case-related deaths. The aim of the study is to
analyze the impact of refugees and income inequality on COVID-19 cases and
deaths in 95 countries for the year 2021 using Poisson regression, Negative
Binomial Regression, and Machine Learning methods. According to the
estimation results, refugees and income inequalities increase both COVID19 cases and deaths. On the other hand, the impact of income inequality on
COVID-19 cases and deaths is stronger than on refugees.