Following the emergence of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan (China) around December 2019, 1 the infection has become a pandemic, decimating over three hundred thousand globally. 2 The severity of COVID-19 cases reported hitherto has varied greatly from asymptomatic to severe pneumonia and thromboembolism, accompanied by overt respiratory failure with subsequent mortality. 3-5 As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to evolve, potential risk factors that may predispose individuals to fatal outcomes are increasingly becoming topical. There are ongoing epidemiological investigations and discussions of potentially at-risk populations and ethnicities. 6,7 An improved understanding of the risk factors as well as clinical course for severe COVID-19 may shed some light on novel personalized approaches to optimize clinical care and outcomes. Emerging trends in the United States suggest possibly higher mortality rates of COVID-19 among African Americans, 8,9 although epidemiological study data with adequate denominator 10 across board is pending. There is no doubt that socioeconomic determinants of health play crucial roles in health inequities and disease trajectory. 11 Nevertheless, interplay of genetic and environmental factors contributes to overall clinical outcomes in a substantial burden of human diseases. 12-17 Sickle cell disease (SCD) disproportionately affects Black/ African Americans in the United States as well as forebearers from sub-Saharan Africa, the Western Hemisphere (South America, the Caribbean, and Central America), and some Mediterranean countries. 18-20 Increasing evidence suggests that COVID-19 pneumonia can cause acute chest syndrome (ACS), a potentially life-threatening complication in SCD. 21-23 These observations raise questions on the potential contributions of SCD-related complications, for instance

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Historically, many people with intellectual disabilities (ID) were considered unable to take part in psychological therapies. This view has changed considerably, and there has been an increasing focus on the development of psychological therapies for people with ID, including methods to help improve the accessibility of treatment. Within this chapter, cognitive-behavioural therapy, mindfulness, dialectical behaviour therapy, behavioural therapy, and psychodynamic therapy are reviewed. There is emerging evidence to indicate that a range of psychological therapies are effective with people who have ID, but a lack of large-scale and well-designed clinical trials investigating a range of psychological interventions remains problematic.