NPR: What Happens When A Pandemic And An Epidemic Collide
“…AIDS experts have a litany of fears about how the pandemic could affect continuing progress in the fight against AIDS. Perhaps the biggest worry is that patients won’t be able to get the AIDS drugs they need because closed borders can interfere with drug shipments; or because quarantines have slowed down work in industries including drug manufacturing; or because economic losses will threaten funding for AIDS prevention programs from some governments. … A modeling group set up by WHO and UNAIDS have estimated that if COVID-19-related interruptions in antiretroviral therapy for AIDS patients last for six months, it will result in 500,000 additional deaths in sub-Saharan Africa alone. It’s not just drugs for treatment that are at risk. The same drugs are used to help prevent infection in people at high risk…” (Brink, 7/14).