HIV and TB care KEY during COVID-19
ZIMBABWE has recorded remarkable in the management of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) in the past 10 years, but these gains are being threatened by the COVID-19 pandemic.
World Health Organization (2022) admits that the COVID-19 pandemic has reversed years of progress made in the fight to end TB. In 2021, TB deaths and disease increased reversing the decline between 2005 and 2019.
TB incidence rate rose by 3.6 percent between 2020 and 2021, reversing declines of about 2 percent per year for most of the past 2 decades and 1.6 million people died from TB including 187 000 people living with HIV. (WHO,2022)
The COVID-19 pandemic has unfolded against a backdrop of the longstanding TB and HIV/AIDS epidemics. Key resources that had been extensively built up over decades for the control of HIV/AIDS and TB are being redirected to control COVID-19.
This drastic step, which set out to curb viral transmission by restricting the movement of people and their interactions, has had several unintended consequences for the provision of health care services for other prevalent conditions, in particular the prevention and treatment of TB and HIV/AIDS.
Locally, TB and HIV/AIDS co-morbidity pose a significant burden on Zimbabwe's health system. About 60 percent of TB patients are also living with HIV. Zimbabwe is ranked among the top 14 countries with a triple burden of TB, TB-HIV co-infection, and drugresistant TB (DR-TB) by WHO.
Sadly, TB is the primary cause of mortality in people living with HIV (PLHIV) worldwide, with 79 percent of the estimated 1.37 million new cases of TB/HIV occurring in sub-successes Saharan Africa (WHO).
So far, the country has a TB treatment coverage of 83 percent (Global TB Report, 2019) and 97 percent of PLHIV are on antiretroviral therapy (ZIMPHIA, 2020).
In Zimbabwe approximately 1, 4 million people are living with HIV (National HIV Estimates). And TB continues to be the leading cause of death among people living with HIV with 60 percent of Zimbabweans suffering from TB are co-infected with HIV.
But there is still an opportunity to substantially reduce the death toll by prioritizing the most critical services: antiretroviral therapy for HIV and timely diagnosis and treatment of TB.
Against this background, actions to mitigate and reverse the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on access to essential HIV/AIDS and TB services are urgently needed.
Zimbabwe Association of Church-Related Hospitals (ZACH) with support from Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Zimbabwe, has partnered with the Ministry of Health and Child Care to prevent, prepare for, respond to and bolster health systems to address COVID-19 and its reemergence through vaccinations.
It has been almost two years since the first COVID-19 vaccine(s) first became available, and slightly more than half (58.6 percent) of Zimbabwe's eligible population have received their initial series of shots; below half (44.1 percent) have received their second dose and just a tenth (11.4 percent) have received their third dose (MOHCC COVID-19 updates, 29 December 2022).
This is despite the shots being administered for free, widely available, and thoroughly tested.
What can PLHIV/TB do to protect themselves from COVID-19?
If you are living with HIV and are taking your HIV medicine and or if you are taking TB medicine, it is important to continue your treatment and follow the advice of your health care provider. This is the best way to keep your immune system healthy.
PLHIV can protect themselves from COVIDThe 19 by:
Getting a COVID-19 vaccine as soon as possible,
Wearing a mask that covers your nose and mouth,
Staying 6 feet apart from others who don't live with you,
Avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated indoor spaces, and
Washing your hands often with soap and water.
Maintain a healthy lifestyle (healthy diet; reducing stress as much as possible; taking your medicine as prescribed and getting at least 8 hours of sleep per night)
Staying healthy helps your immune system fight off infection should it occur.
Recommendations from WHO entail that in settings with high burdens of HIV/AIDS and TB, maintaining a continuity of services and recovering programmes should be a high priority to reduce the broader health impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is everyone's responsibility to protect ourselves, our loved ones and those around us! Get vaccinated for COVID-19 today!
For feedback, kindly email: communications@zach.org.zw