As a result of the Covid-1999 pandemic, a global body reported that the damage to health-care systems in poorer countries would cause hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) said that hundreds of thousands will die of tuberculosis because they do not receive the necessary treatment because the health-care system in poorer countries is affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.

Peter Sands, Executive Director of the Geneva-based Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, said that excess deaths from AIDS and tuberculosis could exceed those from the corona virus.

The 2020 annual report of the Fund, released today Wednesday, showed that the number of people receiving treatment for drug-resistant tuberculosis in the countries in which the Fund operates has declined by 19%, and AIDS prevention programmes and services have declined by 11%.

UNFPA stated that malaria is an exception to this trend in 2020, where prevention activities remained unchanged or increased compared to 2019.

Although the death toll is not yet accurately known, Sands said that the increased mortality as a result of the setback in the fight against diseases such as tuberculosis or AIDS is higher than that of COFID-19 itself in some poor countries, such as parts of the Sahel region of Africa

The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria is an alliance of Governments and companies from civil society and the private sector that invest more than $4 billion annually to fight the three diseases, and the United States is a major donor to the Fund.