WBEZ Chicago, By Cheyanne Daniels, Esther Yoon-Ji Kang, August 3, 2022
Even as drug stores are providing more vital services — including COVID-19 tests and vaccinations, contraceptive counseling and wellness visits — a recent study shows communities on Chicago’s South and West sides have fewer pharmacy locations than other parts of the city.
These areas are called pharmacy deserts. The term was coined in 2014 by Dima Qato, a former University of Illinois Chicago professor now at the University of Southern California. In a pharmacy desert, at least a third of residents live over a mile from a pharmacy, or over a third of residents with “low vehicle access” live more than half a mile from the nearest pharmacy.
In Chicago, North Side residents are far more likely to have easy access to pharmacies than their South and West side counterparts, according to Qato’s research. In addition, the number of pharmacy deserts on Chicago’s South and West sides has increased in recent years.
“Chicago actually has the widest gaps between white and Black neighborhoods in the country,” Qato told the Sun-Times.