Opinion | Covid-19 is proving a deadly distraction from the fight against malaria, TB and HIV

Name: WHO approves first-ever malaria vaccine
Uploaded: 2021-11-24T01:15:22.000Z
Duration: 1 min 53 s
Description: WHO approves first-ever malaria vaccine

Years of work to contain these killer diseases have been set back amid lockdowns and overwhelmed health systems, even as climate change raises infection risks

Urgent investment is needed to tackle these global health crises. The world cannot afford to tackle one infectious disease at a time

Reading Time:3 minutes

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A doctor examines a tuberculosis patient in a hospital in Allahabad, India, in March 2014. As the world focuses on the pandemic, experts fear losing ground in the long fight against other deadly infectious diseases such as TB, malaria and HIV. Photo: AP

John Fleming

Published: 9:15am, 24 Nov 2021

The devastating effect of Covid-19 is still unfolding globally and a broader health crisis is growing. Entire health systems have been held hostage by the virus for much of the past 18 months. People still fear going to the hospital.

Global efforts to contain and eradicate other infectious diseases, including malaria, tuberculosis (TB) and HIV, have been set back with deadly consequences. Around 2.5 million people died from these three diseases last year.

Climate change is adding to the mounting dangers faced from these infectious diseases. As leaders negotiated the 1.5 degree Celsius target at the COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, we heard about the risks that warmer temperatures pose to our health.

Disease eradication efforts are being threatened as the changing environment becomes more conducive to the spread of diseases such as malaria and dengue, according to a recent Lancet Countdown report on health and climate change: code red for a healthy future.

The writing is on the wall. This is a global public health crisis. Urgent investment into prevention, surveillance, diagnosis, treatment and care is needed in countries trying to cope with the secondary health impact of this pandemic and climate change. These diseases are entirely preventable.

01:53

WHO approves first-ever malaria vaccine

International public health investment must be stepped up to prevent decades of progress being undone after just two years of Covid-19.

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