This research inquiry aims to understand what processes  most  substantially  impact potential access and realized access to primary health care for farmworker families in California. Potential access refers to the availability of medical services relative to need, while realized access refers to the use of medical  services  to  satisfy  those  needs (Khan and Bhardwaj, 1994). Key to this research is  how  the  condition  of  migrating  outside one's county of residence affects access to medical services. In this  study,  political economic policy analysis focuses on how rural health care access at the local level  is affected by federal, state, and local health care policies, which work either to secure or to undermine allocations of medical resources for these workers. This research argues that structural policies inherent in public and private health  insurance  programs  for farmworkers are strong determinants of access to medical services.

This commentary asks anthropologists to work within communities to actively address the global mental health impact of COVID-19 and contribute to the pandemic response. Multiple social and physical losses, worsened by numerous factors, have produced syndemic traumatic stress and suffering across populations, highlighting persistent inequalities further amplified by the effects of COVID-19. Specifically, anthropologists can work to contribute to the development of mental health programs; confront the racialization of COVID-19 alongside marginalized communities; support real-time policy making with community responses; and innovate transparent collaborative research methods through open science. This pandemic can serve as an opportunity to prioritize research endeavors, public service, and teaching to better align with societal needs while providing new opportunities for synergy and collaborations between anthropologists in and outside the academy. Anthropologists collaborating directly with mental health clinicians and the public can contribute to knowledge specifically through direct program development and implementation of interventions designed to improve mental well-being. Innovating to find impactful solutions in response to the unprecedented mental health challenges exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic has the potential to promote more equitable recovery around the world.