Including the disease of the poor .. Corona occupies the world for other deadly diseases

As the world pours its focus on the Covid-19 epidemic, other infectious diseases continue to claim millions of lives, among them many children in developing countries, including tuberculosis, which an expert described as the disease of the poor.

Last April, UNICEF said that 117 million children face the risk of measles due to the suspension of vaccination campaigns.

"Health systems are under great pressure, which has stopped routine health care, so everything is focused on fighting Covid-19, countries want to limit health workers' communication with potential patients," WHO Director of Immunization Division Robin Nandi told AFP news agency.

Measles claimed more than 140,000 people in 2018, the majority of them under the age of five.

More than 2,500 children die every day from acute pneumonia or bacterial infection that can be treated with appropriate and affordable medicines, and several studies show that more than 800 deaths a year can be avoided.

In Nigeria - where pneumonia is the leading cause of death among children - it is feared that Covid-19 prevents many young people from obtaining the necessary care.

"We see many children with breathing problems, and it is difficult to diagnose and treat both," said Sanjana Pardwaj, director of health for UNICEF in Nigeria.

Several epidemics
Before the spread of Covid-19 disease, the Democratic Republic of the Congo was suffering from several epidemics. Six thousand people - the majority of them children - have died from measles since the start of the last wave of this epidemic in 2019, and malaria poses a constant threat to infants and kills 13,000 people annually .

Last April, the World Health Organization was preparing to announce the end of the Ebola epidemic in the country, but was forced to delay the announcement due to new cases being recorded.

"There were substantial deaths mainly with child malnutrition that strongly affected, and Covid increased the threats," said Alex Mutanaghani, a Coffed-19 anti-DRC official with the non-governmental organization Save the Children.

Diseases of the poor
Billions of dollars are being invested in the search for a vaccine for Covid-19, and more than 100 vaccines have been developed in which 70 clinical trials have been conducted.

Yesterday, Wednesday, Stop TB (Stop TB) warned that imposed quarantine measures could lead to 1.4 million TB-related deaths due to stalled testing and treatment campaigns.

Tuberculosis remains one of the most deadly infectious diseases in the world, with 10 million new cases recorded annually and 1.5 million deaths, even as treatments are available.

But funding research on tuberculosis is a victim of the big money devoted to AIDS, and now for Covid-19, the only vaccine available for a hundred years is only useful for young children.

Lucia Ditio, director of Stop TB, said that achieving a new TB vaccine is effective and covers everyone, costing half a billion dollars.

She added that "the world is astonished by this 120-day disease with the development of 100 vaccines for it" compared to only 3 vaccines for TB, and considered that TB is a disease of the poor.

Chronic diseases
Hundreds of millions of people need medication on a daily basis to treat chronic diseases such as diabetes and arterial hypertension.

At the end of last April, the Coalition of Non-communicable Diseases called on countries to verify that those with these diseases receive treatment despite the pandemic, especially as these diseases may lead to complications in the event of Covid-19 infection.

The coalition has warned that Covid-19 disease "seriously compromises" the supply of medicines and supplies.

Experts said the Covid-19 pandemic had proven what they had been warning about for years, meaning the world was not in good health "and we can't pretend that anymore."