Nature, February 5, 2024, Gentrification Increases Risk Of Tick-Borne Disease For Communities Of Colour
Gentrification consists of neighbourhood developments that usually result in economic and, in most cases, demographic changes that mainly displace socioeconomically disadvantaged individuals and people of colour who reside in historically disinvested areas3. According to a study conducted from 2000 to 2013, more than 110,000 Black residents and 24,000 Hispanic residents were displaced from gentrifying US neighbourhoods4. This displacement of minoritized individuals often results in relocation to other urban areas or the suburbs, with few managing to remain in their same neighbourhood. Due to the growing epidemic of gentrification and displaced individuals, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention has declared gentrification a public health issue, but investigations correlating vector-borne disease risk and urban policy are relatively non-existent. Halsey et al. used Lyme disease as a case study to propose three outcomes of gentrification that can increase the population’s exposure to TBDs.
