The COVID-19 pandemic had a devastating impact on the fight against HIV, tuberculosis, and malaria in 2020, a report from the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria finds.

Published to mark the twentieth anniversary of the Global Fund's inception, Results Report 2021 (98 pages, PDF) found that while the organization saw some progress, key programmatic areas reported declines for the first time in its history. Across countries where the Global Fund works, the number of people tested and treated for TB fell by 18 percent, from 5.5 million in 2019 to 4.5 million in 2020 — an estimated 1.4 million fewer patients than if the coronavirus pandemic had not occurred. The number of people receiving treatment for drug-resistant TB and extensively drug-resistant TB dropped 19 percent and 37 percent, respectively, and the number of HIV-positive TB patients receiving both antiretroviral and TB treatment fell 16 percent.

According to the study, the number of HIV tests taken dropped 22 percent, from 134 million in 2019 to 104 million in 2020 — an estimated thirty-seven million fewer than without the pandemic. The number of people reached with HIV prevention programs and services fell by 11 percent, with a 12 percent decline among young people; the number of mothers receiving medicine to prevent transmitting HIV to their babies fell 4.5 percent; and even as the number of individuals receiving antiretroviral treatment increased 8.8 percent in 2020 to 21.9 million, they include only 54 percent of HIV-positive children, 68 percent of HIV-positive men, and 78 percent of HIV-positive women.

While the report found that efforts to fight malaria appear to have been less severely affected compared with TB and HIV, testing of suspected cases of malaria fell 4.3 percent and progress against the disease stalled in 2020.

"To mark our twentieth anniversary, we had hoped to focus this year's Results Report on the extraordinary stories of courage and resilience that made possible the progress we have achieved against HIV, TB, and malaria over the last two decades. But the 2020 numbers force a different focus. They confirm what we feared might happen when COVID-19 struck," said Global Fund executive director Peter Sands. "Despite the horrible toll COVID-19 has taken, the pandemic presents us with a chance to build a better, more equitable, and healthier world....If we continue to innovate and collaborate — at global, national, and local levels — we can end HIV, TB, and malaria, beat COVID-19, and build a much stronger foundation for pandemic preparedness and response."

(Photo credit: Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria)