Malaria, HIV/AIDS and other diseases could surge during coronavirus pandemic, experts warn

Washington CNN — Cases of malaria, HIV/AIDS and other diseases could surge worldwide in coming months as global health systems rally to battle the coronavirus pandemic, global health experts tell CNN. In India, health workers have seen an almost 80% drop in daily tuberculosis notifications, and “it’s not because it’s not spreading, it’s because we don’t know about it because people won’t, are not using services,” said Amanda Glassman, executive vice president and senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, which works to reduce poverty in developing countries. Steve Morrison, director of the Global Health Policy Center at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, noted that lower income countries already display a “lack of preparation across the board in terms of protective gear for providers, in terms of test kits, vials, in terms of systems that can do screening and contact tracing, provide oxygen at facilities.” And the global economic slowdown will hit these trade-dependent countries with “greater ferocity,” he said, likely leaving them even less able to get the supplies needed to protect their health workers. Nancy Lindborg, the president and CEO of the US Institute of Peace, noted that amount is “a tiny fraction” compared to the trillions spent or allocated to fight the pandemic, “but a very useful fraction for safeguarding a more secure healthier future for the world, but also for the United States.” ‘Big, big, big, big, big, big concern’ Another “big, big, big, big, big, big concern,” O’Keefe said, are fears of widespread global food insecurity. Despite the broad challenges, ONE Campaign’s Smith said, “there’s some very good signs that there are efforts underway to protect the gains that have been made over the past many years.” She pointed to efforts by the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, which “is in fact about walking and chewing gum at the same time, continuing their work on HIV AIDS and malaria, but they’ve also set up the facility and put their own resources into fighting Covid at the same time.”