The Trinidad-based Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) Monday said that the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has emerged as one of the most serious global public health challenges in recent times.
“The pandemic has demonstrated how health is connected with other critical issues, such as reducing inequality, human rights, gender equality, social protection and economic growth,” CARPHA said in a message to mark World Aids Day on Tuesday.
CARPHA said that threatened livelihoods, disruption in supply chains, changes in health care delivery which affected access to health care are but some of the challenges that people living with HIV (PLHIV) face in 2020 due to the pandemic.
CARPHA said that in a systematic review summarising 25 studies on COVID-19 patients, 252 living with HIV, two-thirds, or 66.5 per cent had mild to moderate symptoms. Among patients who died, the majority – 90.5 per cent – were over 50 years old and 64.3 per cent had multimorbidity.
The region’s premier health organisation, said that the Caribbean region has made significant progress in reducing AIDS related deaths.
