Arushi Bidhuri
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Written By: Arushi Bidhuri | Published : September 8, 2021 2:19 PM IST
HIV, TB Patients May Suffer From ‘Devastating’ Impact Of Covid-19
With the world baffled with the outrageous coronavirus, there have been certain disruptions in the treatment of other diseases like tuberculosis and AIDS. Reports suggest that hundreds of thousands of these patients will die without timely intervention. A Global fund report released on Wednesday showed that the treatment for HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis have been greatly impacted due to the pandemic.
The number of persons treated for drug-resistant tuberculosis in countries where the Fund operates decreased by 19 per cent, according to the Fund's annual report for 2020. The number of HIV prevention programmes and services has decreased by 11 per cent. Despite Covid-19, the number of persons who received life-saving antiretroviral medication for HIV increased by 8.8% to 21.9 million in 2020. The impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the global campaign against tuberculosis was also "catastrophic," according to the report.
Similarly, the coronavirus pandemic in the fight against TB was greatly impacted. The number of persons treated for drug-resistant tuberculosis in the countries where the Global Fund invests fell by 19 per cent, with those on treatment for severely drug-resistant tuberculosis dropping by much more, by 37 per cent, according to the report. Roughly 4.7 million persons were treated for tuberculosis in 2020, down from around one million in 2019.
Malaria interventions "appear to have been less badly affected by Covid-19 than the other two infections," but affected, nonetheless.
Executive Director Peter Sand told Reuters, "essentially, about a million people less were treated for TB in 2020 than in 2019, and I'm afraid that will inevitably mean that hundreds of thousands of people will die." While exact death rates are unknown, Sands believes that in some poor nations, such as areas of Africa's Sahel region, excess deaths from a setback in the fight against diseases like tuberculosis or AIDS may outnumber COVID-19 deaths.
COVID-19 lockdowns, according to Sands, had an impact on services because clinics, employees, and diagnostics that would normally be used for TB were instead deployed for COVID-19 in places like India and Africa. He also predicted that the Delta variation will cause more difficulties this year. The decline in treatments for other diseases should not be looked down upon. He added, "underscores the need to look at the whole impact of COVID-19 and assess success in combating it not just by the reduction in mortality attributable to COVID-19 itself, but also by the knock-on effect."
(with inputs from agencies)
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