USC Press Release, May 3, 2021.
Lack of easy access to prescription medications and other pharmacy-based services may contribute to health disparities
“One in three neighborhoods throughout these cities were pharmacy deserts, affecting nearly 15 million people,” said Jenny S. Guadamuz, the study’s first author and postdoctoral fellow at the USC Schaeffer Center and the Program on Medicines and Public Health at the School of Pharmacy. “However, limited access to pharmacies disproportionately impacts racial/ethnic minorities — 8.3 million Black and Latino residents of these cities live in deserts.”
“We observed stark disparities in Los Angeles, where one-third of all Black and Latino neighborhoods were pharmacy deserts, particularly neighborhoods in South Central L.A., including Florence, Broadway-Manchester and Watts,” Guadamuz said.