The Impact of pandemic Covid-19 on HIV/AIDS Diagnosis and Therapy in the Northeast Region

Abstract

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) is responsible for the immunodepression that characterizes the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), affecting TCD4 cells and favoring the emergence of opportunistic infections.This is an epidemiological study aimed at evaluating the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on diagnosis and therapy for patients with HIV/AIDS. A descriptive study was conducted with secondary data obtained from the DATASUS website and indicator panels with the respective source. The studies presented in this review show that in the Northeast, in 2020 there were 7,103 thousand cases of HIV and in 2021 2,982 thousand notifications. Regarding sex, in 2020, 5,051 thousand were men, reducing to 2,137 in 2021, as for women, in 2020 there were 2,052 cases, decreasing to 842 in 2021. The age group with the highest number of notifications between 2020 and 2021 was 20-34 years old, registering 2,794 thousand and 1,224 thousand cases, respectively, followed by the age group between 35-49 years old with 2,773 thousand in 2020 and 1,120 cases in 2021. Regarding therapy, in 2019, 68,347 (37.1%) PLHIVs adhered to ART contrasting with the following year, which obtained an estimate of 55,120 PLHIVs (29.9%). In the Northeast, about 16,493 (38.28%) PLHIV adhered to ART in 2019, but in 2020 there was a reduction to about 12,511 (29.03%). Therefore, it is concluded that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected health services linked to the care and diagnosis of people with HIV/AIDS, and further studies are needed to ascertain the real extent of the problem.