PAHO Director: COVID-19 Threatening Fight Against Infectious Diseases

(Nation News) Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Dr Carissa F. Etienne has warned that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is threatening to set the region back in its fight against diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis (TB) and mosquito-borne diseases.

In a webinar media briefing Tuesday, Etienne said just as the region was making significant progress against neglected tropical diseases, the pandemic “interrupted the mass drug administration campaigns that are vital to the elimination efforts”.

She said such disruptions were likely to drive infection rates up in the coming months and predicted that: “In the short term this means that more people will die from preventable and treatable conditions and in the long term, the progress that we have made in recent decades could be lost in a few months. Yet she said all was not lost as it was ‘not too late to prevent these outcomes’.”

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Source: CARICOM TODAY