Switch to coronavirus focus in Africa ‘risks rise in Aids deaths’

Two UN agencies warn interruptions to HIV-Aids treatment could lead to more than a half million deaths

New HIV infections among children also predicted to rise drastically as resources diverted to fight pandemic

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Interruptions to Aids treatment in Africa could set the clock back by more than a decade, the World Health Organisation and UNAids warn. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 6:00pm, 12 May 2020Updated: 10:57pm, 12 May 2020

More than half a million people in sub-Saharan Africa could die from Aids-related illnesses as resources are diverted into the fight against the coronavirus pandemic, according to two UN agencies.

The World Health Organisation and UNAids have warned that interruptions to treatment could “set the clock back by more than a decade to 2008 when more than 950,000 Aids deaths were observed in the region”. In 2018, an estimated 470,000 people died from Aids-related illnesses in the 46 countries that make up the region, according to the WHO.

“The terrible prospect of half a million more people in Africa dying of Aids-related illnesses is like stepping back into history,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Monday. “We must read this as a wake-up call to countries to identify ways to sustain all vital health services.”

Despite attention being focused on the Covid-19 pandemic, Tedros said “we must still ensure that global supplies of tests and treatments for both HIV and TB reach the countries and communities that need them most”, adding “we should save people from Covid-19 and HIV and other life-threatening diseases”.

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The WHO said a six-month disruption in treatment services could lead to an excess of 471,000 to 673,000 Aids-related deaths in one year, making it inevitable that the world would miss the global 2020 target of fewer than 500,000 fatalities from disease worldwide. A shorter disruption, of three months, would see a reduced, but still significant, impact.