HIV & COVID-19 #4: "Communities and COVID-19: A Roundtable with Community-Based Organizations”
Date: 14 August 2021
Organizers: UP Manila and Brown University
Community-based organizations have responded to the challenges and limitations on the delivery of HIV-related services posed by the COVID-19 pandemic by innovating and improving their programs. In this fourth installment of the UPM-Brown HIV and COVID-19 webinar series, leaders of CBOs shared their challenges, best practices, and recommendations for providing services and advocating for the PLHIV community during the pandemic and beyond.
Background
The Covid-19 pandemic greatly affected the lives of millions of peoples and communities across the world in multiple aspects of health and wellbeing. It has resulted not only in the loss of many lives, opportunities, and livelihoods but also disruptions in the effective delivery of HIV testing, care, and treatment services. There is a pressing need to understand how the Covid-19 pandemic has magnified and aggravated the Philippines’ booming HIV-related health issues and concerns. The Brown University, in collaboration with the University of the Philippines Manila, aims to raise awareness of how the pandemic has caused disruptions in the HIV prevention and care continuum and how these are addressed through a five-part webinar series. The program is anticipated to provide an opportunity for discussion around the latest science on HIV in addition to sharing the best practices implemented by various organizations, institutions, and communities to facilitate and remodel HIV prevention and care services.