Posted by Michael Wonder on 06 Jul 2020
Access to HIV medicines severely impacted by COVID-19 as AIDS response stalls
6 July 2020 - Countries seek innovative ways to mitigate the impact of disruptions and keep services going.
Seventy-three countries have warned that they are at risk of stock-outs of antiretroviral (ARV) medicines as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a new WHO survey conducted ahead of the International AIDS Society’s biannual conference. Twenty-four countries reported having either a critically low stock of ARVs or disruptions in the supply of these life-saving medicines.
The survey follows a modelling exercise convened by WHO and UNAIDS in May which forecasted that a six-month disruption in access to ARVs could lead to a doubling in AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 alone.
