The situation is most dire in Africa, says Vermeulen, where two-thirds of the 38 million HIV patients live. The fight against the corona virus has almost completely eradicated HIV care in African countries. But the containment of other infectious diseases that have been fought with great difficulty in recent decades is also faltering in developing countries, says professor of tropical medicine Martin Grobusch, associated with the AMC.
“This concerns, for example, acute infectious diseases such as malaria or tuberculosis, which require emergency treatment,” says Grobusch. “All available resources now go to covid prevention and treatment. In addition, people are in lockdown, which means that they have fewer opportunities to make money and come to the hospital less often for treatment on time. So it is something that the overall health in Africa is getting stronger. “
Vaccination problems
Earlier this month, UNICEF and the World Health Organization (WHO) said in a emergency call that it took hundreds of millions to prevent new epidemics of infectious diseases such as measles and polio. “Because we cannot allow the fight against one deadly disease to mean a loss of ground in the fight against other diseases,” said Unicef director Henriette Fore.
According to the WHO, the corona pandemic disrupted a total of 91 vaccination programs in at least 53 countries. Marion Koopmans, head of the virology department at Erasmus MC, recognizes the global vaccination problem. “Because of the corona crisis, there is a lot to do about delayed care. Vaccination is also part of that, of course. And we know about measles and polio: the less children you vaccinate, the greater the risk of outbreaks. it’s no less worrisome. “
The WHO already counted the highest number of measles infections in more than two decades last year and fears the pandemic will only cause more outbreaks of the extremely contagious virus in 2021 and 2022.
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