The AIDS Fund and the UN organization UN AIDS are deeply concerned about the consequences of the corona measures for HIV patients in Africa. Half a million extra deaths are expected for the next six months, because patients have fewer HIV inhibitors.
“Five teams of scientists have been calculating models in recent weeks to find out what happens if lockdown measures in Africa continue for a longer period of time,” said AIDS Fund director Mark Vermeulen in the NOS Radio 1 News. “That gave several numbers, but the average is expected to be more than 500,000 additional deaths from AIDS in the coming months.”
Example Uganda
Vermeulen took Uganda as an example, a country that has at least 5 percent the HIV virus. “People have not been allowed to go outside for weeks. That means that people cannot go to the clinic to pick up pills. They have to ask for permission and the stigma surrounding HIV is often so great that people do not dare to say that they are HIV- be positive and therefore have to go to the clinic. “
If people with HIV do not use the medicines, they can transmit the virus again and the virus can become resistant. Not using medicines therefore not only leads to more AIDS deaths, but also to more HIV infections.
In addition, the lockdown measures make people unemployed and unable to buy food. “We know that eating HIV medication is very important, especially in children,” said Vermeulen. “If there are still medicines, but no food, that medication no longer works.
Important lesson
HIV and AIDS fighters have forty years of experience in looking for tests and treatments for the HIV virus. “The most important lesson has actually been: you cannot fight an infectious disease if you exclude people,” said Vermeulen. “If you don’t reach everyone, even the weakest in society, that virus will come back.”
He therefore considers it very important that both epidemics are tackled. In the fight against corona, the channels for providing information about fighting HIV and AIDS are now also being used for providing information about fighting against corona.
More practically, Aidsfonds helps by making money available for the purchase of cyclists and scooters, so that medicines and food packages can be delivered to patients’ homes and health workers are provided with protective materials.
TB, measles and malaria
Health editor Rinke van den Brink says that due to the corona pandemic lockdowns, the fight against all infectious diseases has collapsed. “That is a very threatening situation.”
The Dutch KNCV Tuberculosis Foundation estimates that tuberculosis control has been delayed by five to eight years worldwide. “That means that there will be more than six million additional infections and nearly one and a half million extra deaths. While that is a disease that can be controlled with vaccines and medicines.”
The lockdowns also threaten to relieve mumps, measles and rubella, because people are unable to get their vaccines and healthcare personnel are now being used to fight corona.
The World Health Organization has prepared a worst case scenario for malaria. If all malaria control were to stop, an additional 750,000 patients would die.
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