Impact of COVID-19 pandemic and anti-pandemic measures on tuberculosis, viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and malaria – a systematic review

Abstract

COVID-19 pandemic puts an enormous strain on health care systems worldwide and may have a detrimental effect on prevention, treatment and outcomes of tuberculosis (TB), viral hepatitis, HIV/AIDS and malaria, whose ending is part of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. We conducted a systematic review of scientific and grey literature in order to collect wide-ranging evidence with emphasis on quantification of the projected and actual indirect impacts of COVID-19 on the four infectious diseases with a global focus. We followed PRISMA guidelines and the protocol registered for malaria (CRD42021234974). We searched PubMed, Scopus, preView (last search: January 13, 2021) and websites of main (medical) societies and leading NGOs related to each of the four considered infectious diseases. The identified modelling studies warned about under-diagnosis (TB), anti-retroviral therapy interruption/decrease in viral load suppression (HIV), disruptions of insecticide-treated nets (ITN) distribution and access to effective treatment (malaria), and treatment delays and vaccination interruptions (viral hepatitis). The reported disruptions were very heterogeneous both between and within countries. If observed at several points in time, the initial drops (partly dramatic, e.g. TB notifications/cases, or HIV testing volumes decreased up to -80%) were followed by a gradual recovery. However, the often-missing assessment of the changes against the usual pre-pandemic fluctuations hampered the interpretation of less severe ones. Given the recurring waves of the pandemic and the unknown mid- to long-term effects of adaptation and normalisation, the real consequences for the fight against leading infectious diseases will only manifest over the coming years.

The impact of the pandemic and the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy on people living with HIV: a single-center cross-sectional study in Caracas, Venezuela

“…The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the diagnosis, care, and treatment of HIV infection has been extensively explored in other countries [31][32][33][34]. In general, new HIV diagnoses decreased by 12-45% [35][36][37][38][39][40][41].…”

The Challenge of Estimating the Direct and Indirect Effects of COVID-19 Interventions —Toward an Integrated Economic and Epidemiological Approach

“…(Lagat et al, 2020;Louie et al, 2020;Watts et al, 2020). These interruptions are not always as large as initially predicted by models (Kessel et al, 2022), but they are substantial and have set programmatic efforts to eliminate poverty-related but essentially well-treatable diseases like tuberculosis importantly (Jeremiah et al 2022).…”

Importance of Balanced Attention Toward Coronavirus Disease 2019 and Neglected Tropical Diseases

“… 5 They adversely affect the quality of life of patients, and continue to kill millions of people even during the COVID-19 pandemic. 6 7 8 Furthermore, neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), such as soil-transmitted helminthiasis, filariasis, protozoiasis, leishmaniasis, trypanosomiasis, schistosomiasis, trachoma, and dengue fever, have been reported as possible co-pathogens among patients infected with COVID-19. 9 10 11 …”