Introduction Interruptions in treatment pose risks for people with HIV (PWH) and threaten progress in ending the HIV epidemic; however, the COVID‐19 pandemic's impact on HIV service delivery across diverse settings is not broadly documented. Methods From September 2020 to March 2021, the International epidemiology Databases to Evaluate AIDS (IeDEA) research consortium surveyed 238 HIV care sites across seven geographic regions to document constraints in HIV service delivery during the first year of the pandemic and strategies for ensuring care continuity for PWH. Descriptive statistics were stratified by national HIV prevalence (<1%, 1–4.9% and ≥5%) and country income levels. Results Questions about pandemic‐related consequences for HIV care were completed by 225 (95%) sites in 42 countries with low ( n = 82), medium ( n = 86) and high ( n = 57) HIV prevalence, including low‐ ( n = 57), lower‐middle ( n = 79), upper‐middle ( n = 39) and high‐ ( n = 50) income countries. Most sites reported being subject to pandemic‐related restrictions on travel, service provision or other operations (75%), and experiencing negative impacts (76%) on clinic operations, including decreased hours/days, reduced provider availability, clinic reconfiguration for COVID‐19 services, record‐keeping interruptions and suspension of partner support. Almost all sites in low‐prevalence and high‐income countries reported increased use of telemedicine (85% and 100%, respectively), compared with less than half of sites in high‐prevalence and lower‐income settings. Few sites in high‐prevalence settings (2%) reported suspending antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic services, and many reported adopting mitigation strategies to support adherence, including multi‐month dispensing of ART (95%) and designating community ART pick‐up points (44%). While few sites (5%) reported stockouts of first‐line ART regimens, 10–11% reported stockouts of second‐ and third‐line regimens, respectively, primarily in high‐prevalence and lower‐income settings. Interruptions in HIV viral load (VL) testing included suspension of testing (22%), longer turnaround times (41%) and supply/reagent stockouts (22%), but did not differ across settings. Conclusions While many sites in high HIV prevalence settings and lower‐income countries reported introducing or expanding measures to support treatment adherence and continuity of care, the COVID‐19 pandemic resulted in disruptions to VL testing and ART supply chains that may negatively affect the quality of HIV care in these settings.

Mass media extensively inform societies about events threatening the global food supply (e.g., pandemics or Brexit). Consumers exposed to such communication may perceive food resources as becoming scarcer. In line with the evolutionary account, these perceptions can shift decision-making in domains such as food preferences or prosociality. However, the current literature has solely focused on actual and past food insecurity experiences threatening mostly low-income families, thus neglecting the future-oriented perceptions among the general population. This paper broadens the food insecurity research scope by developing a new construct-anticipated food scarcity (AFS)-which is defined as the perception that food resources are becoming less available (in the future). We have developed and psychometrically validated the 8-item Anticipated Food Scarcity Scale (AFSS) in eight studies (N = 1333). The 8-item AFSS is unidimensional and has good psychometric qualities. The scale is sensitive to food scarcity cues and, therefore, can be used in experimental research. Moreover, the scale's relatively narrow set of items makes it an exceptionally potent tool for use in online surveys, field settings, and lab studies. Taken together, the AFSS presents an alternative approach to food scarcity measurement in affluent societies and, consequently, can foster novel research on food waste, sustainability, prosocial behaviors, and other similar topic areas.

Events such as trade wars or pandemics pose a threat to the global food supply chain. As a result, people may perceive food resources as less secure. These perceptions, in turn, can shift decision-making in various domains such as food preferences, financial risk-taking, or prosocial behaviors. The food insecurity literature to date has extensively focused on actual food scarcity that threatens mostly low-income families. This paper broadens the scope of the food insecurity research by developing a new construct—anticipated food scarcity (AFS)—defined as a perception of food resources as becoming insufficient and unpredictable. Existing tools neglect the importance of this construct and rather focus on food insecurity that refers to the retrospective/physical food unavailability. We address this shortcoming by developing and psychometrically validating the 8-item Anticipated Food Scarcity Scale (AFSS). Based on Nonparametric and Parametric Item Response Theories, Classical Test Theory, principal component analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis, we evaluated the psychometric properties of this scale. The 8-item AFSS is unidimensional, has good psychometric qualities, and can be used for group comparisons. The scale is sensitive to food scarcity cues and, therefore, can be used in experimental research. Moreover, its relatively narrow set of items makes it a particularly potent tool in online surveys, field settings, and lab studies. Taken together, the AFSS presents an alternative approach to food scarcity measurement in affluent societies and, consequently, can foster novel research on food waste, sustainability, financial risk-taking, and other research domains.

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