Lessons learned about community engagement from the past 20 years of HVTN trials informed the success of similar efforts in support of COVID-19 vaccine research. Now that the COVID-19 vaccine studies are reaching their conclusions, what lessons can be applied back to HIV vaccine research as those studies resume? The presenters will share how the COVID-19 Prevention Network (CoVPN) built on prior community engagement successes in the HVTN, the success of these efforts in COVID-19 vaccine studies, including enrollment of BIPOC communities, engagement of faith-based organizations and Native American or Indigenous communities, the use of a participant screening registry, and the use of infographics and video for social media and marketing campaigns. As HIV vaccine studies begin to resume, the presenters will also share how these COVID-19 successes are being applied back to HIV research, addressing pre-pandemic challenges with slow study enrollment. This Global Village session will be presented and moderated by Gail Broder, associate director of HVTN’s Social Behavioral Science & Community Engagement Unit, and Dr. Stephaun Wallace, director of External Relations at HVTN. Additional participants and panelists will include HTVN community engagement project managers Rafael Gonzalez, U.S. and Puerto Rico; Kagisho Baepanye, eastern and sub-Saharan Africa; Luciana Kamel, Argentina and Brazil; and Patricia Segura, Mexico and Peru.
Session type: Global Village Session.
Date, time, location: Sunday, July 31, 5 p.m. to 6 p.m., Global Village Channel/Room 2.
Interfaith Preconference: Taking Action to Overcome HIV Stigma and Discrimination
Ahead of AIDS 2022, Dr. Ulysses W. Burley III, founder of UBtheCURE LLC, will co-facilitate a two-day event featuring workshops, networking opportunities and presentations by and for faith leaders targeting HIV-related stigma and discrimination. Among session topics are:
- Recommendations of persons and communities affected, in dialogue with faith leaders.
- Theological principles that guide faith groups to overcome stigma and discrimination.
- Leveraging trust and access to sustain epidemic control and advance prevention.
- Innovations to tackle HIV stigma and discrimination.
- The impact of new testing tools and methodologies.
- How optimal HIV pediatric treatment is paving the way to end stigma among children.
- Long-acting injection to treat HIV.
- PREP and PEP: essential tools to end stigma.
- Monitoring and evaluation frameworks that can be adapted to faith interventions to address stigma and discrimination.
UBtheCURE is a Chicago-based consulting company at the intersection of faith, health, and human rights, with expertise in HIV/AIDS and COVID-19. Although Burley’s formal training is in immunology and cancer epidemiology, his primary work has been in HIV and AIDS education, awareness, advocacy, and capacity-building in the context of faith.
Session type: Preconference event.
Date, time, location: Wednesday, July 27, and Thursday, July 28, from 8 a.m. to 5:45 p.m. both days, Montreal’s La Plaza Centre-Ville-EVO.