Climate change and conflict are hampering efforts to tackle the world’s three deadliest infectious diseases, says the head of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM).
International initiatives to combat the disease have largely recovered after being hit hard by the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the 2023 GFATM report released on Monday (18/9). But the increasing challenges of climate change and conflict mean the world is unlikely to meet its target of ending AIDS, tuberculosis and malaria by 2030 without “extraordinary steps,” said Peter Sands, executive director of GFATM.
Sands gave the example of malaria which is now spreading to highland areas of Africa that were previously too cold for mosquitoes that carry the parasite that causes the disease. Extreme weather events such as floods are overwhelming health services, displacing communities, causing a rise in infections and disrupting treatment in many places, the report said. In countries including Sudan, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Myanmar, reaching vulnerable communities is also a major challenge due to insecurity, he added.
However, said Sands, GFATM also recorded progress. For example, in 2022, 6.7 million people were treated for TB in the countries where the agency invests, or 1.4 million more people than the previous year. GFATM also helped provide antiretroviral drugs for HIV to 24.5 million people, and distributed 220 million mosquito nets to prevent malaria transmission. Sands added that innovative prevention and diagnostic tools also provide hope.
This week, there was a high-level meeting on TB at the UN General Assembly. Many hope the talks will bring more attention to the disease.
GFATM faced criticism from some TB experts for not allocating more budget to the disease. They argue that TB is the biggest killer of the three diseases that the institution focuses on.
“There is no doubt that the world needs to devote more resources to fighting TB… but it is not as simple as comparing annual deaths from each disease,” Sands said. He said that many of the countries with the highest TB burden are middle-income countries that have greater capacity to fund health services within their own countries. [ab/ka]
2023-09-18 16:26:49
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