Social and behavioral health responses to COVID‑19: lessons learned from four decades of an HIV pandemic

This scoping review of public health interventions summarizes the lessons learned from the HIV prevention literature to inform the development of COVID-19 prevention and mitigation strategies. The authors focus on multiple levels of intervention, including intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and social factors. Each of these provides a reference point for understanding and elaborating on social/behavioral lessons learned from HIV prevention and treatment research. Further, preventing the worst care scenarios of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality can be achieved by incorporating strategies that address the intrapersonal, interpersonal, community, and societal levels of data-driven and well-coordinated interventions. While HIV prevention and treatment sciences have not always achieved these goals, the lessons that have been learned should help guide the development of efforts that respond to COVID-19 and future pandemics.