Current Events > "The Biggest Monster" Is Spreading. And It's Not the Coronavirus.

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It's Tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis kills 1.5 million people each year. Lockdowns and supply-chain disruptions threaten progress against the disease as well as H.I.V. and malaria.

Until this year, TB and its deadly allies, H.I.V. and malaria, were on the run. The toll from each disease over the previous decade was at its nadir in 2018, the last year for which data are available.

Yet now, as the coronavirus pandemic spreads around the world, consuming global health resources, these perennially neglected adversaries are making a comeback.
Covid-19 risks derailing all our efforts and taking us back to where we were 20 years ago, said Dr. Pedro L. Alonso, the director of the World Health Organizations global malaria program.

Its not just that the coronavirus has diverted scientific attention from TB, H.I.V. and malaria. The lockdowns, particularly across parts of Africa, Asia and Latin America, have raised insurmountable barriers to patients who must travel to obtain diagnoses or drugs, according to interviews with more than two dozen public health officials, doctors and patients worldwide.

Fear of the coronavirus and the shuttering of clinics have kept away many patients struggling with H.I.V., TB and malaria, while restrictions on air and sea travel have severely limited delivery of medications to the hardest-hit regions.

About 80 percent of tuberculosis, H.I.V. and malaria programs worldwide have reported disruptions in services, and one in four people living with H.I.V. have reported problems with gaining access to medications, according to U.N. AIDS. Interruptions or delays in treatment may lead to drug resistance, already a formidable problem in many countries.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/03/health/coronavirus-tuberculosis-aids-malaria.html

Long article but good read. Covid continues to fuck over other essential resources.

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My nytimes limit is already hit. From the summary; shit, how nearsighted. We had a plan, which was dumped by the idiot in office, but even then, you'd think we could compensate a bit.

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