The worst socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 fell along geographic, racial, and gendered lines. A new study conducted by the HSRC, the Institute for Development Studies in the UK, and the National Council of and for Persons with Disabilities, shows that people with disabilities were also disproportionately affected, and that the government's response did not adequately provide for this sector of the population or its diversity. This is particularly concerning given that as many as one in five people in South Africa over the age of five have some form of disability.
Human Sciences Research Council (2025) studied this question.