Mitigating the COVID-19 challenges to HIV prevention efforts in Africa: A socio-behavioral perspective

ABSTRACT

In this commentary, the authors highlight how the COVID-19 pandemic has a range of negative effects on HIV prevention in Africa, both well documented HIV service interruptions and less well appreciated effects of the socio-structural context that put people at risk of HIV (e.g. loss of earnings, stigma). The authors call on the global community to unpack and address these factors as the pandemic surges in Africa. They point to best practices and tools from decades of socio-behavioural research and programming responses in the HIV field that can be applied to COVID-19 efforts, including for vaccines being rolled out.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• Africa
• socio-behavioural
• COVID-19

Acknowledgements

Co-authors are all members of the Socio-Behavioral and Structural Working Group (SBSWG) of the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN), and this work was supported by the HPTN. Thank you to the broader SBSWG, the Community Working Group, and HPTN leadership for their review of this commentary. Overall support for the HPTN is provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), Office of the Director (OD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), under Award Number UM1AI068619-15 (HPTN Leadership and Operations Center), UM1AI068617-15 (HPTN Statistical and Data Management Center), and UM1AI068613-15 (HPTN Laboratory Center). The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of NIAID, OD, NIH, NIDA, NIMH, or the HPTN.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the HIV Prevention Trials Network (HPTN).