How a Multidisciplinary Group of Researchers and Technologists Leveraged a Social Networking App to Gather, Analyze, and Share Critical COVID-19 Data in Record Time
As of the writing of this article, COVID-19 has killed more than 500,000 people globally and infected 11.5 million, exacting profound economic, social, and political damage. Like other frequently marginalized groups, LGBTQ+ individuals are at particular risk from the reverberating impacts of the pandemic, with many standard mitigation strategies – such as the ability to self-isolate – emerging as social determinants of COVID-19 outcomes. The risk is even more pronounced for members of the LGBTQ+ community who also identify as a racial or ethnic minority.
In response to the growing pandemic and its disproportionate impact on already marginalized communities, the COVID Disparities Working Group (CDWG) was formed. The CDWG is a multi-institution, multidisciplinary coalition working to reduce redundancy and overlap in research, and speed the publication of findings. Coordinated by Tech4HIV and comprised of academic institutions, multilateral and non-governmental organizations, and private sector companies, the CDWG seeks to rapidly respond to and disseminate information on the cascade of adverse impacts that COVID-19 has brought to bear.
To better understand and characterize the socioeconomic vulnerability of LGBTQ+ individuals in the context of COVID-19, the CDWG developed and implemented a survey that was delivered to a global audience through the social networking app, Hornet. An astonishing 20,238 people from 138 countries participated in the survey over the course of just a few weeks. The results show that 13% and 23.4% of the individuals who were surveyed have lost their jobs, or are uncertain about their employment stability, respectively. 44% indicate that they anticipate reductions in salary, and almost a quarter (23%) report having cut or skipped meals to save money during the COVID-19 crisis. Parallel realities are evident when considering the intersection of economics and health, with 7% engaging in more sex work than before the pandemic and 4% engaging in riskier sexual practices. COVID-19 appears to have increased both the economic vulnerability and the HIV risk of the LGBTQ+ community.
The CDWG’s findings on the socioeconomic vulnerability of LGBTQ+ individuals in the context of COVID-19 was submitted as an abstract and accepted for presentation at the annual International AIDS Society conference which, for the first time in its 23-year history, will be entirely virtual this year. The abstract, titled “COVID-19 pandemic increases socioeconomic vulnerability of LGBTI+ communities and their susceptibility to HIV” will be presented on Monday July 6th, 2020 alongside World Health Organization (WHO) Director General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, and UNAIDS Executive Director, Winifred Byanyima, highlighting the impact of COVID-19 on socioeconomic status, nutrition, and access to health services within the global LGBTQ+ community.
The CDWG’s recent undertaking is unique in several ways. It is one of the first, if not the only, study that sought to characterize the impact of COVID-19 on LGBTQ+, providing empirical evidence of increased socioeconomic vulnerability and susceptibility to HIV. The data accentuate the unique needs of LGBTQ+ individuals that will demand targeted, ameliorative approaches from government and the global community alike.
In addition, the means by which the CDWG implemented the study is exceptionally novel. Technological advances occur daily yet, broadly speaking, public health remains reliant on 20th-century technology. By leveraging an existing social networking app and tools that enable remote collaboration, the multidisciplinary CDWG was able to deliver the survey, and collect, analyze & disseminate the resulting data from more than 20,000 individuals in under three months. A dataset of this size and scope might take a traditional research institution years to develop and assess; but in the race against COVID-19, we have awakened to the potent reality that the world can no longer afford to wait while researchers toil using protracted methods. We need more precise and actionable data, and we need it now. If a coordinated and systemic partnership between public health and technology has until today remained elusive, the COVID-19 pandemic is on track to render that gap obsolete.
Tech4HIV is the alliance of tech companies and public health institutions working to scale existing technologies to optimize efficiency and impact in public health. By leveraging advances in software, hardware, and web-based services, we can more effectively address the needs of people around the world, including those most marginalized from health systems.
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Other published works by the CDWG:
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The Covid Disparities Working Group (CDWG) members include:
Research institutions: JHU, UCLA, Rutgers, UCSF, Yale, Karolinska Institutet
Multilateral organizations: UNAIDS, World Bank, WHO, UNDP, ECDC
Non-governmental organizations: Tech4HIV, Mpact, Outright, LGBT Foundation
Private sector: Hornet, Microsoft, Google, BMW