Same script, different viruses: HIV and COVID-19 in US Black communities

• Published in: The Lancet (British edition) 2021-03, Vol.397 (10279), p.1040-1042
• Main Authors: Fields, Errol L, Copeland, Raniyah, Hopkins, Ernest
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: African Americans - statistics & numerical data; Black people; COVID-19; COVID-19 - epidemiology; COVID-19 - prevention & control; Disease prevention; Gays & lesbians; Geographical locations; Health disparities; Health Status Disparities; HIV; HIV Infections - epidemiology; HIV Infections - prevention & control; Human immunodeficiency virus; Humans; Life expectancy; Life span; Men; Mens health; Minority & ethnic groups; Morbidity; Mortality; Pandemics; Prevention; Public health; Race factors; Sexually transmitted diseases; STD; United States - epidemiology; Viral diseases
• ISSN: 0140-6736; 1474-547X
• DOI: 10.1016/S0140-6736(20)32522-8

In Black communities, HIV was initially perceived as a disease isolated to gay white men, despite the rapidly mounting racial disparities in HIV acquisition, morbidity, and mortality affecting Black men who have sex with men (MSM), heterosexually active men and women, children born to mothers living with HIV, and people who injected drugs.9 In striking parallels to HIV, early rumours suggested Black people were not susceptible to COVID-19.10 However, as with HIV it has become clear that the impact of COVID-19 on Black communities is commensurate with the health disparities affecting racial and ethnic minorities across the USA. Health disparities in the USA have been documented since W E B Du Bois highlighted racial and ethnic health inequities in 1906.15 Despite decades of awareness, most of the gaps in life expectancy, disease incidence, morbidity, and mortality among racial and ethnic groups in the USA have persisted or expanded, resulting in an estimated 83 000 deaths annually.16 Yet treatment and prevention efforts often overlook the underlying social determinants of health. Neither pandemic will be resolved without addressing the syndemic social, economic, and environmental disadvantages that not only place Black and other marginalised groups at increased risk but also limit their access to these biomedical advances.17 The Washington Post/Getty Images The US Government's 10-year Ending the HIV Epidemic21 initiative commits to increasing use of biomedical HIV prevention interventions through an increase in resources to key geographical locations where more than 50% of new HIV diagnoses occur.