Adding to the brutal, immediate effects of Russia’s invasion, the Ukrainian people are facing an onslaught of infectious diseases
, which had peaked that month. COVID-19 testing has fallen there since the conflict began, which means undetected transmission is probably significant, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the World Health Organization , said at a 2 March press briefing.
“As people come in, we have to really scale up surveillance in surrounding countries for polio, measles, and also for COVID to make sure we prevent them,” said Heather Papowitz, WHO’s incident manager for Ukraine, at the briefing. “Looking at providing vaccines for measles, polio and COVID is paramount.”Ukraine has one of the world’s highest burdens of multidrug-resistant TB. An estimated 32,000 people there develop active TB each year, and about one-third of all new TB cases are drug resistant.
Access to HIV/AIDS treatment is also in jeopardy in Ukraine, which has the second highest burden of HIV/AIDS in Eastern Europe. About 1% of the population is infected, but that number is much higher in at-risk groups: 7.5% in men who have sex with men, and almost 21% in people who inject drugs. “You should not interrupt treatment.
People fleeing to safety might have a one-month supply of drugs, or two weeks’ worth, or less, Rachynska says. Those who can’t relocate to a safe place, and those in Russian-occupied territories, are the most vulnerable, she adds.