Zaidi Ilham, Vardha Jagadeeswari, Khayum Abdul, Anjum Sahifa, Chaudhary Shikhar, Bakshi Aditi, Gill Jasmeen Kaur
International Society for Chronic Illnesses, New Delhi, India.
The Achutha Menon Centre for Health Science Studies, Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology, Trivandrum, India.
Front Public Health. 2024 Dec 18;12:1366484. doi: 10.3389/fpubh.2024.1366484. eCollection 2024.
The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly challenged healthcare systems worldwide, particularly in India, a country already burdened with a high prevalence of Neglected Tropical Diseases (NTDs). This perspective examines the pandemic's direct and indirect impacts on the prevalence, diagnosis, and management of NTDs in India. Using a narrative review approach, we analyzed literature published between January 2020 and September 2023 from databases such as PubMed, Scopus, and Google Scholar, along with grey literature. The focus was on studies reporting the pandemic's influence on NTDs, especially among vulnerable populations in both rural and urban settings. The review incorporated 49 studies, revealing a twofold impact of COVID-19 on India's healthcare. Directly, the surge in COVID-19 cases strained healthcare resources, disrupted services, and overwhelmed healthcare personnel. Indirectly, the pandemic exacerbated the burden of NTDs by delaying diagnoses, limiting access to treatment, and redirecting resources toward pandemic response efforts. These findings highlight the urgent need for resilient healthcare strategies that address both the immediate and long-term impacts of the pandemic on NTDs. By understanding and mitigating these effects, policymakers and public health experts can better protect vulnerable populations from the compounded challenges posed by these neglected diseases.
新冠疫情给全球医疗系统带来了巨大挑战，在印度尤其如此。印度是一个被忽视热带病（NTDs）高流行率所累的国家。本文从这一视角审视了疫情对印度被忽视热带病的流行率、诊断及管理产生的直接和间接影响。我们采用叙述性综述方法，分析了2020年1月至2023年9月期间来自PubMed、Scopus和谷歌学术等数据库的文献，以及灰色文献。重点是报告疫情对被忽视热带病影响的研究，特别是在农村和城市环境中的弱势群体。该综述纳入了49项研究，揭示了新冠疫情对印度医疗保健的双重影响。直接影响方面，新冠病例激增使医疗资源紧张，服务中断，医护人员不堪重负。间接影响方面，疫情通过延迟诊断、限制治疗可及性以及将资源重新导向疫情应对工作，加剧了被忽视热带病的负担。这些发现凸显了迫切需要有弹性的医疗保健策略，以应对疫情对被忽视热带病的近期和长期影响。通过理解和减轻这些影响，政策制定者和公共卫生专家可以更好地保护弱势群体免受这些被忽视疾病带来的复合挑战。
