Research Training for Substance Use Mediated HIV Epidemic in Kazakhstan

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The New York State International Training and Research Program (NYS-ITRP) at SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University proposes to train health care professionals on how to improve COVID-19 prevention and vaccination acceptance/access in people living with HIV (PLWH) in Almaty, Kazakhstan (KZ). To inform our training we will collaborate with our in-country Kazakhstan (KZ) partners, Kazakh National Medical University School of Public Health and Global Health Research Center of Central Asia, to assess COVID-19 vaccine attitudes and acceptance among 230 PLWH. The COVID-19 pandemic has had a substantial impact on morbidity and mortality, socioeconomic wellbeing and mental health. Since March 2020, over 375,000 cases of coronavirus infection were registered in KZ with >4,000 deaths. The pandemic has caused severe social disruption and dislocation in KZ, most significantly among PLWH. These effects include the disruption of HIV treatment services in KZ and potential negative impact on ART adherence and HIV treatment outcomes among PLWH. In addition, PLWH maybe vulnerable to suboptimal COVID-19 treatment and vaccine access. Finally, COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in PLWH may be an additional barrier to adequate care. The specific aims of this proposal are to: 1) examine COVID-19 vaccine attitudes and acceptance among 230 PLWH in Almaty, KZ; and 2) develop and conduct a webinar for KZ’s National AIDS Center health care professionals to improve knowledge on factors that contribute to COVID-19 vaccination acceptance among PLWH in KZ. In collaboration with our partners, a multidisciplinary team of KZ and US epidemiologists, clinicians and social workers, the project will study COVID-19 vaccine attitudes and acceptance among PLWH in KZ. This study will provide the critical data for our collaborators to create webinar content for health care providers in AIDS Center networks, with whom our partners have previously established collaborations. Webinar contents will focus on the pandemic’s impact on PLWH, vaccine hesitancy and barriers to vaccination in PLWH, and health care worker communications with PLWH to overcome these barriers.