COVID Community-Engaged Testing in Alabama: Reaching Underserved Rural Populations Through Collaboration
Christopher Greer McCollum1, Thomas N Creger1, Aadia I Rana1
1Christopher Greer McCollum, Thomas N. Creger, Aadia I. Rana, Lynn T. Matthews, Greer A. Burkholder, William A. Curry, Latesha Elopre, Sydney Grooms, Barbara Van Der Pol, and Michael J. Mugavero are with the Heersink School of Medicine, University of Alabama at Birmingham. Stefan D. Baral is with the Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD. Faith E. Fletcher is with the Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, TX. Emily B. Levitan and Max Michael III are with the Ryals School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham.
Abstract:
Rural communities are often underserved by public health testing initiatives in Alabama. As part of the National Institutes of Health's Rapid Acceleration of Diagnostics‒Underserved Populations initiative, the University of Alabama at Birmingham, along with community partners, sought to address this inequity in COVID-19 testing. We describe the participatory assessment, selection, and implementation phases of this project, which administered more than 23 000 COVID-19 tests throughout the state, including nearly 4000 tests among incarcerated populations. (Am J Public Health. 2022;112(10):1399-1403. https://doi.org/10.2105/AJPH.2022.306985).
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