Your browser doesn't support javascript.
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on HIV and tuberculosis: Who perspective
Topics in Antiviral Medicine ; 29(1):7, 2021.
Article in English | EMBASE | ID: covidwho-1250762
ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has infected more than 100 million people, killed more than 2.4 million, and had a major impact on the health system's ability to deliver essential health services. The impact of COVID-19 on other infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis (TB) has been immense, particularly in low-resource settings with high HIV and TB burden. Ongoing TB data collection and analysis from 200 countries have shown reduced access to care in outpatient and inpatient facilities, impacting the entire care cascade, including prevention, with case detection rates dropping by over 50% in some endemic countries in 2020. By its negative impact on poverty and malnutrition, it is possible that TB incidence could actually increase, strengthening the argument for robust prevention measures. The pandemic has caused significant disruption to HIV programs by limiting access to life-saving antiretrovirals due to movement restrictions, local stockouts, and decrease in uptake of facility-based services. These disruptions are also expected to have reverted some of the progress made in preventing vertical transmission of HIV, resulting in increased numbers of paediatric HIV infections. Therefore, strengthening systems for the maintenance of HIV, TB/HIV, and TB services is an urgent need in many high-burden countries. Although COVID-19 has challenged TB and HIV programmes, it has also offered several lessons, including how we join forces, innovate, and accelerate research and development. Some examples are the use of digital tools for contact tracing, use of AI-based diagnostic algorithms, widespread sharing of genomic sequence data to track virus evolution and emergence of new variants, and large multisite clinical trials to test new therapeutics and vaccines. The development and evaluation of new TB and HIV treatments and vaccines should learn from the past year of accelerated development and explore new models of public-private partnership for the development of global public goods. Despite progress, vulnerable populations such as children and pregnant women continue to lag behind innovations for TB and HIV, and these groups need to be included in clinical trials much sooner. Finally, we need to expand and strengthen the integration of services within the primary healthcare platform, optimizing differentiated service delivery, community engagement and the use of digital technologies to reach those most at risk of TB and HIV with screening, prevention, diagnosis, and treatment.
Search on Google
Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Topics in Antiviral Medicine Year: 2021 Document Type: Article

Similar

MEDLINE

...
LILACS

LIS

Search on Google
Collection: Databases of international organizations Database: EMBASE Type of study: Experimental Studies Language: English Journal: Topics in Antiviral Medicine Year: 2021 Document Type: Article