The WARN/CARN-TB Executive Secretariat conducted two surveys in April and June 2020. The first concerned the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB control strategies in network countries, and the second the repercussions on the supply and availability of TB inputs. Here are the main results of these surveys.
Impact of COVID-19 on tuberculosis control in the region (April 2020).
o All countries in the region had already been affected by COVID 19.
o General measures taken in most countries were border closures and barrier gestures
o Less than half of NTPs participated in the response committee
o Most countries had a contingency plan, but funding was an issue.
o Most programs had to update traditional infection control measures, telecommute and rearrange work schedules to cope with COVID.
o At least half of the NTPs in the network had to modify their TB control strategy because of COVID.
o GeneXpert machines were scheduled to be used for COVID dc in ¾ of the countries, and measures are being taken to ensure that this does not disrupt TB dc.
o All countries were interested in conducting research to document this COVID 19 episode.
Impact of COVID-19 on the supply and availability of TB inputs (June 2020)
o 5 countries had stock-outs, 4 countries had stock-outs of at least 1 product, and 1 country had stock-outs of all TB drugs.
o The main obstacles to supply were delays in deliveries, border closures and lack of funding.
o Several measures were put in place by countries to deal with these difficulties. These focused mainly on communication and advocacy with suppliers and partners, as well as enlisting the support of neighboring countries.
The results of these two surveys showed that the situation, while varying significantly from country to country, represents a major collective challenge that must be tackled in a regional spirit of mutual aid and solidarity.