Partnerships in Academic and Community COVID-19 Testing Research - Puipuia le Ola: Increasing reach and uptake of COVID-19 testing among Pacific Islanders in Hawaii and Guam (TRMD 690 Seminar)

Date/Time: 20 October 2021, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Speaker: Richard Yanagihara, MD, MPH, Professor, Dept of Pediatrics; Angela U Sy, DrPH, Assistant Professor, Dept of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology & Pharmacology (TMMMP); Wei-Kung Wang, MD, ScD, Professor, Dept of TMMMP
Speaker Affiliation: Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP)
Venue: via Zoom; Link: https://zoom.us/j/97962975142?pwd=aFdJZmhrbjdDOGQ2UFZHZTYyeDhUZz09; Meeting ID: 979 6297 5142; Passcode: 306033

For more info: Vivek Nerurkar, nerurkar@hawaii.edu
Description: Pacific Islanders (PI) have among the highest COVID-19-associated morbidity and mortality rates nationally. This presentation will describe a community-engaged project, funded by the Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics for Underserved Populations (RADx-UP) initiative, to better understand SARS-CoV-2 infection patterns among PI in Hawaii and on Guam. We hypothesize that culturally and linguistically appropriate strategies may increase uptake of COVID-19 testing among PI, resulting in more precise SARS-CoV-2 infection and seroprevalence rates. Community-engagement research methods will involve collaborating with PI communities to design and implement strategies to increase COVID-19 testing. COVID-19 RT-PCR and anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody tests will be provided for asymptomatic adult PI in Hawaii and Guam. Progress, preliminary results, and lessons learned thus far on the implementation of culturally resonant community-engagement strategies to increase the reach and uptake of COVID-19 testing will be reported.