WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 12th August, 2020) The novel coronavirus pandemic risks undermining efforts to control a host of other infectious diseases in the Americas, including HIV, tuberculosis (TB) and hepatitis, Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Director Carissa Etienne said in a press release.
"With more than 10.5 million cases of COVID-19 in the Americas and 100,000 new cases being reported every day, countries can't delay the fight against COVID-19, but we must not let COVID-19 delay us in completing our unfinished agenda of eliminating and controlling infectious diseases from our region," Etienne said in the release on Tuesday.
Etienne noted that eight in ten nations in Latin America and the Caribbean have reported difficulties delivering tuberculosis treatments, which could turn manageable cases of TB into active infections.
Similarly, 30 percent of people living with HIV are avoiding seeking care and antiretroviral medications are in limited supply, Etienne said. Disruptions in hepatitis screenings, key for detection and treatment, were also reported by a third of the countries, she added.
In October 2019, PAHO's member states committed to a region-wide effort to eliminate more than 30 communicable diseases and related conditions in the Americas by 2030, according to the release.
