South Africa scrambles for anti-HIV drugs
JOHANNESBURG — Across South Africa and around the world, the COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the supply of antiretroviral drugs, endangering the lives of many of the more than 24 million people globally who take the medications that suppress the HIV virus.
In sub-Saharan Africa alone, a study by UNAIDS found that a six-month disruption of antiretroviral therapy could lead to 500,000 additional AIDS-related deaths.
The disruptions are particularly troubling in South Africa, which has 7.7 million HIV-positive people, the world’s largest number, with 62% of those depending on the government’s antiretroviral program, also the world’s largest. AntiCOVID-19 restrictions have hindered both imports of the drugs and the local production and distribution of the medications, according to a report by UNAIDS.
In addition, many HIV patients have stopped going to the often-crowded clinics for fear of being exposed to COVID-19. And others cannot afford the transport fares to reach clinics.
HIV-positive people who contract COVID-19 are more than twice as likely to die from the disease as people without HIV, according to an early study of mortality rates in South Africa’s Western Cape province.
“We’re worried that we’re going to be seeing an increase in deaths in co-infections such as TB and other opportunistic infections,” Dr. Nomathemba Chandiwana, an HIV research clinician, told The Associated Press.
Clinics in central Johannesburg
have seen a 10% to 25% drop in people coming for HIV treatment, she said.
COVID-19 is similarly disrupting vaccinations. The past few months have seen a 25% reduction in childhood immunizations, according to Shabir Madhi, a professor of vaccinology at the same university, who warned of possible outbreaks of measles.
The diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis also has been hampered by the pandemic, risking the lives of many of South Africa’s neediest citizens, health experts say.
Reliable supplies of antiretroviral drugs are so critically important in South Africa that a monitoring program, Stop Stockouts, was created in 2013 and is closely tracking and responding to the disruptions amid the COVID-19 pandemic.