Hi Santorra,
I’m not sure of the reason behind our PI’s rationale for her desire to improve in community engagement among certain community stakeholders including Black, Latino, and trans*people whether or not they are straight or gay identified. I think it’s because she feels that these stakeholders are the most affected by HIV/AIDS and she feels we owe it to them to include them in trials for which they will have the most benefit if successful. Data for vaccine studies in the U.S. demonstrate that white people are most likely to join a trial, although we all know that Blacks and Latinos bear the highest burden of the infection. We understand that more resources are needed to engage these communities and the community education and recruitment funding we get for studies is never enough to invest adequate resources among Black and Latino (again, including cis-gender and trans*people) stakeholders. Hence, our PI looks for other resources.
I think it also has to do with thinking long-term. If we effectively enroll stakeholders into studies that are most likely to benefit from an effective product, then the people that most benefit from the product may be more likely to use the product if the product is found to be effective.
~Jorge
