Covid-19 pandemic: thwarted efforts in the fight against tuberculosis
Tuberculosis is a contagious infectious disease caused by bacteria and affecting the lungs.
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Text by: RFI Follow
2 mins
For the first time in ten years, the number of deaths linked to the disease is on the rise.
Direct consequence of the pandemic which disrupted prevention and treatment programs for patients.
On the occasion of World Tuberculosis Day, this Thursday, March 24, the World Health Organization and the Global Fund are calling on States to reinvigorate their efforts to combat what until recently was an infectious disease. deadliest in the world.
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With our correspondent in Geneva
,
Jérémie Lanche
Tuberculosis
is not the only disease that has progressed during the pandemic
.
The observation is known: with the health systems engulfed by the Covid, many other pathologies have exploded.
But it is particularly true for tuberculosis, believes Françoise Vanni.
She works at the Global Fund, the leading funder of the fight against tuberculosis: “
Cough and lung disease syndromes are symptoms that have been confused with them from Covid-19.
And so, they were instead told to stay at home.
What also happened is that all health systems, which are oriented towards the fight against tuberculosis, including specialists in pulmonary diseases, found themselves focusing on Covid-19
.
»
Impossible to know how many people were infected during the pandemic.
What we do know, however, is that the number of people on treatment fell by almost a million in 2020
compared to 2019
.
With the risk that all those who have gone under the radar spread the disease a little more.
“
A person who has tuberculosis and who is unaware of it can transmit the disease to about fifteen people around him.
So you can imagine that a million fewer people who have been treated less over a year can have a cascading effect,
”adds Françoise Vanni.
Two regions concentrate the majority of cases.
These are Southeast Asia, in addition to India and China, and Africa, but Europe is not spared.
We know that tuberculosis is intimately linked to precariousness.
The global rise in energy and food prices, as well as the collapse of the health system in Ukraine, could from this point of view revive contamination a little more.
► To read also: RFI Knowledge file on tuberculosis
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