Quite a few people, both in cold and hot and tropical countries, have begun dying in alarming numbers. The disease begins with a mild fever and discomfort, followed by a painful cough and shortness of breath. The infection prospers in crowds, spreading to people in close reach. To contain an outbreak of that requires contact tracing, immediate isolation and treatment for weeks or months. This insidious disease has long since touched every part of the globe; and now, it is one of the biggest human race eliminators. The name is ‘tuberculosis', not ‘corona'. TB is the biggest killer worldwide, claiming 1.5 million lives each year.
TB and its deadly allies, HIV and malaria, were on the run until the beginning of the current year. The toll from each disease over the previous decade was at its lowest in 2018. But when the corona appeared as a pandemic of the strangest kind, all healthcare focus shifted to the virus; all available global health resources were consumed in containing the pathogen. That’s when the perennially dangerous diseases made a cool comeback, barely noticed. Consequently, as records show, TB, malaria and HIV/AIDS are now the biggest killers.
The Covid-19 risks have derailed all efforts to prevent these age-old killer diseases due to the presence of coronavirus. “Coronavirus has taken us back to where we were 20 years ago,” says Dr Pedro L Alonso, Director of the World Health Organisation’s global malaria programme.
The fear of coronavirus and the shuttering of clinics have kept away many patients struggling with HIV, TB and malaria while restrictions on air and sea travel have severely limited delivery of medications to the hardest-hit regions across the globe. About 80% of tuberculosis, HIV and malaria programmes worldwide have reported disruptions in services; and one in four people living with HIV have reported problems with gaining access to medications, according to the UNAIDS. Interruptions in treatment have already led to drug resistance, now a formidable problem in many countries.
In India, home to about 27% of the world’s TB cases, diagnoses have dropped by nearly 75% since the corona pandemic began. In Russia, HIV clinics have been repurposed for coronavirus testing.
Malaria season has begun in West Africa, which has 90% of malaria deaths in the world; but the normal strategies for prevention, distribution of insecticide-treated bed nets and spraying with pesticides have been curtailed because of corona lockdowns. According to one scientific estimate, a three-month lockdown across different parts of the world and a gradual return to normal over 10 months could result in an additional 6.3 million cases of TB and 1.4 million deaths from it. Similarly, a six-month disruption of antiretroviral therapy may lead to more than 5 lakh additional deaths from illnesses related to HIV. Another model by the WHO predicted that in the worst-case scenario, deaths from malaria could double to 7.70 lakh per year. Several public health experts have warned that if the current trends continue, coronavirus is likely to set back years, perhaps decades, of painstaking progress against TB, HIV and malaria. The Global Fund, a public-private partnership to fight these diseases, estimates that mitigating this damage will require at least $28.5 billion, a sum unlikely to materialise.
If history is any guide, the coronavirus impact on the poor will be felt long after the pandemic is over. The socioeconomic crisis in Eastern Europe in the early 1990s, for example, had led to the highest rates in the world of TB that was resistant to multiple drugs, a dubious distinction the region holds even today. The longer a person goes undiagnosed, and the later treatment begins, the more likely an infectious disease is to spread, sicken and kill. After the arrival of coronavirus, most sovereign regions of the world have dropped diagnoses of TB, according to the WHO. They have prioritised the testing of corona in the facilities that perform diagnostic activities to trace TB, HIV and malaria.
The overhyped corona is not a very deadly virus. But the socioeconomic damage it has caused is difficult to salvage even in the least. Other diseases have made a comeback with vengeance and caused such social strife as never before. The stigma now attached to anyone infected by corona is a pariah in the community, and even at home. Spouse doesn’t touch spouse and children look away from parents if identified as corona positive, no matter if without any symptoms at all until they turn negative. The big reason behind this social malady is the defective information materials used by state agencies even when involving doctors and medical experts who do not have the ability to use the head optimally.
Most governments, barring a few, have merrily given the most illogical message to the masses. A majority of the heads of states has been religiously tutored by the so-called medical super-brains to spread only panic. They have painted the situation as that of a long-term war and the people at work 'warriors' in a manner that frightens people. They have not once said, “The infective virus is nowhere near malaria, TB and HIV that kill more invincibly.” Corona will go soon, but it will leave behind a host of killer diseases in more potent forms.
India is still a safe place comparatively from the Covid point of view though ‘corona positives' are rising in number at the present. Over 90% of the positive cases are not contracting the disease ever. They are returning home unscathed by the weak virus. But they are not the same respectable human beings anymore. They have degenerated into despicable creatures. TB and HIV patients are treated better though a few HIV-infected humans may have had unacceptable behaviour problems. Corona is a terrible virus doubtlessly, but the people planning corona prevention seem to be causing extreme psycho-social problems that may be difficult to solve. Failsafe strategies need to be devised urgently to avoid grave social disintegration which may lead to long-term, irreversible economic slowdown or depression which is perfect recipe for immitigable disaster.
