TB progress set back a decade by COVID-19 – WHO

由于减少了去年，超过一百万的人可能死亡TBdiagnosis and care, setting back progress towards ending the disease by a decade, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates.

About 1.4 million fewer people received care for tuberculosis in 2020 than in 2019, as resources were diverted to fightingCOVID-19, according to provisional WHO data from 84 countries, released ahead of World TB Day (24 March).

Lockdowns and reassignments of health staff and equipment have had a “severe impact” on essential TB services, according to aWHO reporton the effects of the global pandemic on TB detection and mortality.

“We need to seize the shock of COVID, which has made the world have a rethink about the threat of infectious diseases, to reset the way the world thinks about TB,”

彼得·桑兹（Peter Sands），全球与艾滋病，结核病和疟疾作斗争的执行董事

该84个国家在2020年报告了490万例案件，而2019年为630万，降低了22％。最大的短缺是在印度尼西亚（42％），南非（41％），菲律宾（37％）和印度（25％）。

WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said: “The effects of COVID-19 go far beyond the death and disease caused by the virus itself. The disruption to essential services for people with TB is just one tragic example of the ways the pandemic is disproportionately affecting some of the world’s poorest people, who were already at higher risk for TB.”

Stop TB Partnership执行董事Lucica Ditiu上周告诉虚拟新闻发布会：“这意味着我们从所取得的成就中损失了很多。We came a long way and were very proud of where we were in 2019 and 2018.

“To get back to where we were supposed to be without COVID, it means that we not only need to recover the ground we lost in 2020, but also go beyond that.”

Two diseases, one solution

DITIU强调了来自印度和南非的数据，表明签约结核病和Covid-19的人的死亡率是单独感染的TB的死亡率三倍。她强调需要解决两种疾病，并指出与诊断和遏制每种疾病的可能措施相似的相似之处。

“If we are smart and we invest in these kinds of measures, we will not help only TB or COVID, we will help both diseases and we will also strengthen our system to be able to address any future airborne pandemic diseases,” she added.

全球与艾滋病基金会执行董事彼得·桑兹（Peter Sands）表示，肺结核和疟疾疟疾症表示，尽管Covid-19在2020年全球约有180万人丧生，但结核病可能导致接近相同的死亡人数。他补充说，如果该疾病未正确解决，它可能会以多药耐药性结核病的形式造成另一种“人类未来风险”。

“我们应该挑战自己：为什么我们将人们留在后面，我们还没有像年龄较大的大流行那样与结核病进行斗争？”他说。“我们需要抓住使世界对传染病的威胁进行重新思考的库维德的震惊，以重置世界对结核病的看法。”

加强诊断

世卫组织呼吁紧急改善筛查，以迅速识别结核病感染的人，包括使用分子快速诊断测试，计算机辅助检测来解释胸部射线照相术以及为HIV患者的结核病筛查。

Harsh Vardhan, minister of health for India and newly appointed chair of the Stop TB Partnership board, said that lessons could be learned from India, which has the world’s highest TB burden.

他说，该国制定了一项详细的快速响应计划，以减轻Covid-19对美国结核病服务的影响，并使用双向筛查来帮助跟踪两种疾病。该国的国家结核病淘汰计划提高了其诊断能力，同时利用社区主导的监测计划和家庭药物提供。

“When it comes to fighting TB, India has much to share with the global audience in terms of strategies and policies, implementation challenges and their solutions,” said Vardhan.

Stop TB Partnership委员会副主席Joanne Carter敦促政府扩大资金，尽管预算压力很大。她说，专注于两种疾病都可以为所有人提供“双赢”。

卡特说：“我们不能在与共同战斗或与结核病作斗争之间做出错误的选择。”“社区，个人和卫生系统都面临着这两个挑战，他们必须拥有财务和人力资源来做出回应。”