Prioritizing Community Partners and Community HIV Workers in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Excerpt

There is accumulating evidence documenting inequities in the burden and impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the US, COVID-19 has disproportionately affected people of color and communities with pre-existing health disparities [1]. Globally, the COVID-19 pandemic will also continue to impact those most impacted by HIV [2, 3]. Thus, HIV researchers have been prompt to consider the deleterious effects of COVID-19 on populations already burdened by the HIV pandemic [4‐6]. Others have drawn attention to lessons from HIV research that can apply to a rigorous COVID-19 response, including the importance of dismantling stigma [7], building multidisciplinary research teams to address health inequalities [8], and sustaining our investment in public health systems [9]. We add to this dialogue by urging the field to bring visibility to community partners who have continually been on the front-line of HIV prevention, education, advocacy, and social care and who now may face exacerbated vulnerabilities in their professional and personal lives. Their public health contributions and concomitant needs must not be ignored. …