Specialists in neglected infectious diseases (NIDs) recommended governments that they should make efforts to continue delivering the essential services, treatments and distribution of medicines for these pathologies in the COVID-19 pandemic context.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf diagnosis and treatment are interrupted, there will be an increase of neglected communicable diseases, especially in high transmission areas\u201d, explained Tamara Mancero, Health Surveillance and Disease Prevention and Control consultant at World Health Organization (WHO) during an online conference.<\/p>\n
During her participation in \u201cThe importance of treating a communicable disease in the context of COVID-19. Chagas disease and pregnancy\u201d, the specialist indicated that, particularly in the case of Chagas disease, \u201cno house spraying is being performed; therefore, vinchucas<\/em> (kissing bugs) multiply in houses where vector transmission still occurs\u201d.<\/p>\n In this sense, she explained that \u201cin Latin America and the Caribbean, there are still areas considered endemic\u201d, and that \u201cthere are different modes of transmission: through vectors \u2013vinchucas<\/em>-, blood, and consumption of contaminated food, as well as congenital vertical transmission\u201d.<\/p>\n These neglected infectious diseases (NIDs) are \u201cmore frequent in poor populations, are caused by viruses, bacteria, parasites, and our region \u2013Latin America and the Caribbean \u2013 has a global burden close to 9 per cent\u201d.<\/p>\n The social isolation people are subjected to \u201cdoes not apply to vectors, and one of the most harmful facts is that there are families living in houses where vincuchas <\/em>are still present; in addition, \u2013as a consequence of the different limitations imposed by the governments to mitigate the spread of coronavirus\u2013 prevention programmes, treatments, field research, and distribution of medicines have been interrupted\u201d.<\/p>\n For this reason, it is \u201cfundamental\u201d that \u201cefforts be made to avoid interruption of programmes for the treatment of NIDs\u201d, the specialist stated, and that \u201cjust as the new normal involves all of us, national plans will also need a revision of their goals, of the status of supply chains\u201d she added.<\/p>\n Likewise, Mancero described that, besides vectorial transmission, \u201cfor some years now vertical transmission has been addressed, we are working on prevention of mother-to-child vertical transmission\u201d.<\/p>\n In this sense, she referred to the ETMI Plus programme<\/strong> and explained that it has been implemented in Argentina since July 2019 to work in collaboration from the primary care level, with prevention actions, to the secondary level of specialized attention.<\/p>\n This initiative seeks to achieve and maintain the elimination of mother-to-child transmission of HIV infection, syphilis, hepatitis B virus (HBV) perinatal infection and Chagas disease.<\/p>\n \u201cThis allows us to make an integrated approach of four diseases that can be eliminated if intensive work is done\u201d, Mancero stated.<\/p>\n