Dataset Information

Widespread closure of HIV prevention and care services places youth at higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Central to measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV is understanding the role of loss of access to essential HIV prevention and care services created by clinic and community-based organization closures. In this paper, we use a comprehensive list of HIV prevention services in four corridors of the US heavily impacted by HIV, developed as part of a large RCT, to illustrate the potential impact of service closure on LGBTQ+ youth.

Methods

We identified and mapped LGBTQ+ friendly services offering at least one of the following HIV-related services: HIV testing; STI testing; PrEP/PEP; HIV treatment and care; and other HIV-related services in 109 counties across four major interstate corridors heavily affected by HIV US Census regions: Pacific (San Francisco, CA to San Diego, CA); South-Atlantic (Washington, DC to Atlanta, GA); East-North-Central (Chicago, IL to Detroit, MI); and East-South-Central (Memphis, TN to New Orleans, LA).

Results

There were a total of 831 LGBTQ+ youth-friendly HIV service providers across the 109 counties. There was a range of LGBTQ+ youth-friendly HIV-service provider availability across counties (range: 0-14.33 per 10,000 youth aged 13-24 (IQR: 2.13), median: 1.09); 9 (8.26%) analyzed counties did not have any LGBTQ+ youth-friendly HIV service providers. The Pearson correlation coefficient for the correlation between county HIV prevalence and LGBTQ+ youth-friendly HIV service provider density was 0.16 (p = 0.09), suggesting only a small, non-statistically significant linear relationship between a county's available LGBTQ+ youth-friendly HIV service providers and their HIV burden.

Conclusions

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, we must find novel, affordable ways to continue to provide sexual health, mental health and other support services to LGBTQ+ youth.

SUBMITTER: Stephenson R

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8432816 | biostudies-literature | 2021

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Publications

Widespread closure of HIV prevention and care services places youth at higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Stephenson Rob R Walsh Alison R AR Chavanduka Tanaka M D TMD Sallabank Gregory G Horvath Keith J KJ Castel Amanda D AD Bonar Erin E EE Hightow-Weidman Lisa L Bauermeister Jose A JA Sullivan Patrick S PS

PloS one 20210910 9

<h4>Background</h4>Central to measuring the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV is understanding the role of loss of access to essential HIV prevention and care services created by clinic and community-based organization closures. In this paper, we use a comprehensive list of HIV prevention services in four corridors of the US heavily impacted by HIV, developed as part of a large RCT, to illustrate the potential impact of service closure on LGBTQ+ youth.<h4>Methods</h4>We identified and mappe ...[more]

PMID: 34506488

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Dataset Information

Widespread closure of HIV prevention and care services places youth at higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Publications

Widespread closure of HIV prevention and care services places youth at higher risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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