Mitsuya Hiroaki
Research Institute, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
Experimental Retrovirology Section, HIV and AIDS Malignancy Branch, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Maryland, USA.
Glob Health Med. 2020 Dec 31;2(6):343-345. doi: 10.35772/ghm.2020.01111.
COVID-19 has been a global and grave public health threat. The number of deaths from COVID-19 has already surpassed by far that of fatalities from the top three communicable diseases (CDs): human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV) infection, tuberculosis, and malaria. The toll from COVID-19 is also inevitably surpassing hepatitis toll by the beginning of 2021. Moreover, it should be noted that COVID-19 has seriously impacted health services for noncommunicable diseases (NCDs), such as diabetes, hypertension, cancers, and cardiovascular diseases. The most common reasons for the disruption of health services are cancellations of scheduled treatments, a paucity in public transport and a lack of staff due to reassignment of a number of health professionals to COVID-19 works. It's an utmost import that scientifically and practically innovative and rational ways and actions are taken, so that deaths due to the simple lack of essential services for various CDs and NCDs are prevented.
新冠疫情已成为全球性的严重公共卫生威胁。新冠疫情导致的死亡人数,已远超位列前三的传染病(即:人类免疫缺陷病毒1型(HIV)感染、结核病和疟疾)造成的死亡人数。到2021年初,新冠疫情造成的死亡人数也必将超过肝炎造成的死亡人数。此外,应当注意的是,新冠疫情严重影响了糖尿病、高血压、癌症和心血管疾病等非传染性疾病(NCDs)的医疗服务。医疗服务中断的最常见原因包括:预定治疗取消、公共交通不足以及由于大量医护人员被重新分配到新冠疫情相关工作而导致的人员短缺。采取科学且切实可行的创新合理方式及行动,以防止因各类传染病和非传染性疾病基本服务匮乏而导致的死亡,这至关重要。