Persistent disparities in COVID-19-associated impacts on HIV prevention and care among a global sample of sexual and gender minority individuals

ABSTRACT

As COVID-19 continues to persist, there is a need to examine its impact among sexual and gender minority individuals, especially those with intersecting vulnerabilities. We conducted a cross-sectional survey with a global sample of sexual and gender minority individuals (n = 21,795) from October 25, 2020 to November 19, 2020, through a social networking app. We characterised the HIV prevention and HIV treatment impacts of COVID-19 and the COVID-19 mitigation response and examined whether subgroups of our study population are disproportionately impacted by COVID-19. Many sexual and gender minority individuals reported interruptions to HIV prevention and HIV care and treatment services. These consequences were significantly greater among people living with HIV, racial/ethnic minorities, immigrants, individuals with a history of sex work, and socio-economically disadvantaged groups. These findings highlight the urgent need to mitigate the negative impacts of COVID-19 among sexual and gender minority individuals.

KEYWORDS:

• HIV
• COVID-19
• Health disparities
• sexual and gender minority individuals
• economic impact

Disclosure statement

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

Data availability statement

Data available on request due to privacy/ethical restrictions. The data that support the findings of this study are available on request from the corresponding author, Glenn-Milo Santos ([email protected]). The data are not publicly available due to sensitive information that could compromise the privacy of research participants.