Organising community primary care in the age of COVID-19: challenges in disadvantaged areas

To tackle the more than 139 000 cases of COVID-19 in France as of May 11, 2020,1 a tremendous reorganisation of the entire health-care system was done. While public hospitals were on the frontline of the crisis, the growth of the epidemic warranted the inclusion of all health-care system staff in the response—in particular community health-care workers. The challenges of efficiently organising the response of multiple partners were heightened in deprived areas such as the northern suburbs of Paris: pre-existing health-care shortages2 combined with the demands of a population often living in unstable and unsanitary housing3 required a different approach.