Opportunities from a new disease for an old threat: Extending COVID-19 efforts to address tuberculosis in South Africa.

Opportunities from a new disease for an old threat: Extending COVID-19 efforts to address tuberculosis in South Africa. S Afr Med J. 2020 Nov 05;110(12):1160-1167 Authors: Loveday M, Cox H, Evans D, Furin J, Ndjeka N, Osman M, Naidoo For The National Tb Think Tank 'Optimising Tb Treatment Outcomes' Task Team K Abstract The COVID-19 pandemic and phased nationwide lockdown have impacted negatively on individuals with tuberculosis (TB) and routine TB services. Through a literature review and the perspective of members of a national TB Think Tank task team, we describe the impact of the pandemic and lockdown on TB patients and services as well as the potential long-term setback to TB control in South Africa (SA). Strategies to mitigate risk and impact are explored, together with opportunities to leverage synergies from both diseases to the benefit of the National TB Programme (NTP). With the emergence of COVID-19, activities to address this new pandemic have been prioritised across all sectors. Within the health system, the health workforce and resources have been redirected away from routine services towards the new disease priority. The social determinants of health have deteriorated during the lockdown, potentially increasing progression to TB disease and impacting negatively on people with TB and their households, resulting in additional barriers to accessing TB care, with early reports of a decline in TB testing rates. Fewer TB diag...
Source: South African Medical Journal - Category: African Health Tags: S Afr Med J Source Type: research