new Delhi. Infectious diseases such as tuberculosis (TB) and COVID-19 are likely to spread to Ukraine as Russian aggression displaces people and disrupts health services. This information has been given in the report of Nature. The Russian army invaded Ukraine on 24 February. While many have fled the country, the rest have been kept in basements, metro stations and makeshift shelters to protect themselves from bombings, increasing the risk of the spread of COVID-19.
In addition, due to lack of water and sanitation, cases of diarrheal diseases are sure to increase and the risk of spreading polio and measles is also high. Access to diagnostic services and treatment for TB and HIV/AIDS is also being disrupted, as health facilities are reduced to rubble on roads, the report said.
Lusica Ditiu, a Romanian physician and executive director of the Stop TB Partnership in Geneva, said in a statement: “I am deeply concerned for Ukraine. First and foremost, it could lead to a long-term conflict that could completely overwhelm the health system. will destroy it.”
Importantly, the war came at a time when the country was already facing poor access to vaccination and essential health services due to COVID.
Whereas vaccination rates in Ukraine were alarmingly low. About 65 percent in Kyiv, but less than 20 percent in some areas. The country reported record cases of the Omicron variant in February.
The Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said in a press briefing earlier this month that it means undetected transmission is probably significant.
Ukraine was also grappling with an outbreak of vaccine-driven polio last year and most recently in December, with two cases in the west of the country. Poliovirus was also isolated from 19 healthy contacts.
The struggle has also stalled a three-week campaign to vaccinate nearly 140,000 children, which began on February 1. It has also affected polio surveillance, so the virus can spread undetected.
In addition, Ukraine had a major outbreak of measles that began in 2017 and continued with over 115,000 cases until 2020. The country also has the world’s largest burden of multidrug-resistant (MDR) TB. Diagnosis and treatment of TB cases had already declined by about 30 percent during the COVID pandemic in 2020 and 2021, leading to an increase in transmission.
“Ukraine was challenged before the war in providing antiretroviral therapy and the war has increased those challenges,” said Raman Halevich, country director of the United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS).
The country was progressing, said Halevich, but ‘this war could again set us back ten years’. People might not be able to take their medicines amid the indiscriminate firefight and even if you make it to a medical facility, it has to be stocked with medicines.
Rachinska said those fleeing to safety may have a month’s supply of drugs, or two weeks’ worth or less. He said those who cannot relocate to a safe place and those in Russian-occupied territories are the most vulnerable.
—AnyTV News
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