Department of Medicine, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Jodhpur, India.
Int J Health Plann Manage. 2022 Mar;37(2):632-642. doi: 10.1002/hpm.3393. Epub 2021 Nov 24.
Tuberculosis (TB) is the leading cause of death from a single infectious agent worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has overburdened healthcare services around the world especially in resource constrained settings. It has shaken already unstable foundation of TB control programs in India and other high burden states. A 25% decline is expected in TB detection while estimates suggest 13% increase in TB deaths due to the impact of the pandemic. However, the significant intersections between the two diseases perhaps offer potential opportunities for consolidating the efforts to tackle both. The widespread implementation and acceptance of universal masking and social distancing in India has helped limit transmission of both diseases. Integrating the capacity building strategies for the two diseases, optimizing the existing the surveillance and monitoring systems which have been achieved over the years will result in a single vertically integrated national program addressing both, rather than multiple parallel program which utilize the already sparse primary care manpower and infrastructure. In this article, we explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis in India and offer suggestions on how effective health planning can efficiently integrate infrastructure and manpower at primary level to provide care for both COVID-19 and tuberculosis.
结核病（TB）是全球范围内单一传染病病原体导致的主要死亡原因。COVID-19 大流行使全球的医疗服务不堪重负，特别是在资源有限的环境中。它动摇了印度和其他高负担国家的结核病控制规划本已不稳定的基础。预计结核病检测将下降 25%，而估计由于大流行的影响，结核病死亡人数将增加 13%。然而，这两种疾病之间的显著交集可能为巩固应对这两种疾病的努力提供潜在机会。印度广泛实施和接受普遍戴口罩和保持社交距离的措施，有助于限制这两种疾病的传播。整合两种疾病的能力建设战略，优化多年来已经实现的现有监测和监测系统，将导致一个单一的垂直整合的国家方案来解决这两种疾病，而不是利用已经稀缺的初级保健人力和基础设施的多个平行方案。在本文中，我们探讨了 COVID-19 大流行对印度结核病的影响，并就如何通过有效的卫生规划在初级保健层面有效整合基础设施和人力以提供 COVID-19 和结核病护理提出了建议。
