One Health COVID-19 education for pet owners in marginalized communities

The University of Washington UW Health Sciences Library will partner with the UW Center for One Health Research to provide COVID-19 health information outreach to marginalized communities focused on caring for pets and companion animals during the global pandemic. Outreach initiatives will focus on two underserved populations: homeless and non-English speaking communities. Research has shown that pets in households of COVID patients may become infected with SARS CoV2. Marginalized communities including individuals experiencing homelessness and ethnic minorities are at increased risk of contracting COVID-19 and have less access to education surrounding their own COVID risks and the risk to their pets, due to language and cultural barriers and the lack of appropriate educational materials. Additionally, this community is less likely to access veterinary care due to prohibitive costs, language barriers, and transportation issues. To fill that health information gap, the project will and disseminate them to communities in the Pacific Northwest. The project will identify and assemble educational materials about these subjects, adapt currently existing English-only health information resources focused on pet care during COVID-19 into other languages, and use a peer education model to distribute these materials in underserved communities in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.