Posted on 14 September 2021
Covid has set back the fight against other global scourges like H.I.V., tuberculosis and malaria, according to an alarming new report released last week, reports the New York Times.
Until Covid, progress was impressive. Overall, deaths from those diseases dropped by about half since 2004.
“The advent of a fourth pandemic, in Covid, puts these hard-fought gains in great jeopardy,” said Mitchell Warren, executive director of AVAC, a nonprofit organization promoting H.I.V. treatment worldwide.
Many fewer people sought diagnosis or medication, because they were afraid of becoming infected with Covid.
In 2020, about one million fewer people were tested and treated for TB for example, compared with 2019 — a drop of about 18 percent.