# Preventing HIV infection among people who inject drugs during COVID-19

> **NIH NIH K01** · BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS · 2020 · $107,979

## Abstract

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT
This application is being submitted in response to NOT-DA-20-047. Injection drug use has contributed to new
HIV outbreaks in many regions of the United States. The parent K01 award seeks to improve the delivery of
antiretroviral pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to people who inject drugs (PWID) through syringe service
programs (SSPs), which provide essential HIV prevention services to this population. Large-scale public health
emergencies, as well as the measures undertaken to mitigate them, can increase HIV risk among PWID (e.g.,
by impacting drug market characteristics and drug-related and sexual risk behaviors) while also impacting the
delivery of essential prevention services. This administrative supplement proposes longitudinal, mixed methods
data collection to understand the impacts of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV or COVID-19) on HIV-
related risk among PWID and SSPs’ capabilities to provide PrEP and other HIV prevention services over the
course of the pandemic. Due to restrictions on in-person research encounters in the context of infectious
disease transmission, over the course of six months, we propose virtual (video-conference) qualitative
interviews with 40 PWID and 20 SSP staff as well as modified, weekly quantitative ecological momentary
assessment (EMA) with participating SSPs to understand evolutions in PWID risk behaviors (Aim 1), SSP
organizational functioning and staff wellbeing (Aim 2), and EMA feasibility and SSP service provision in the
context of a large-scale emergency (Aim 3). Guided by the socio-ecological model, our mixed methods
analyses will provide critical evidence on how to sustain the delivery of PrEP and other essential HIV
prevention services to at-risk PWID during large-scale public health emergencies. Our primary innovations are
the longitudinal examination of individual and organizational responses to the COVID-19 pandemic over time,
the use of virtual data collection methods (including EMA with SSPs) that leverage the parent K01 award’s
network of community research collaborations, and the mixed methods approach to eliciting multiple
stakeholder perspectives on the impacts of this unprecedented pandemic on HIV prevention with a vulnerable
substance-using population. Findings from this supplement will inform efforts to promote sustained HIV
prevention service delivery during future public health emergencies while also enhancing the success of the
parent K01 award focused on SSP-based implementation of PrEP for HIV prevention in a highly socially
marginalized population.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10138118
- **Project number:** 3K01DA043412-04S1
- **Recipient organization:** BOSTON UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CAMPUS
- **Principal Investigator:** Angela Robertson Bazzi
- **Activity code:** K01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $107,979
- **Award type:** 3
- **Project period:** 2017-04-01 → 2022-03-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10138118

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10138118, Preventing HIV infection among people who inject drugs during COVID-19 (3K01DA043412-04S1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-26 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10138118. Licensed CC0.

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