The pandemic is, first and foremost, a public health emergency, having claimed over 4 million lives worldwide.

But COVID-19 also has a plethora of secondary impacts, with short- and long-term effects on children’s education, the economy, and gender inequality, as well as rates of global extreme poverty and hunger.

One area of particular concern that is often overlooked, according to Chris Collins, president and CEO of Friends of the Global Fight Against AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, is the pandemic’s indirect impact on other areas of health.

Collins recently spoke to Global Citizen to explain how lockdowns, public restrictions and transport stoppages impact health systems and health service delivery, particularly affecting two major health concerns: HIV and malaria.

Global Citizen: A new report shows COVID-19 has massively disrupted health systems and health service delivery for HIV, TB and malaria in low- and middle-income countries in Africa and Asia in 2020. How exactly has COVID-19 impacted these diseases?

Collins:First, there are logistical disruptions. During a pandemic like COVID-19, many patients can’t travel to get the care they need because of stay-at-home orders and a lack of public transportation. Second, COVID-19 has upended carefully calibrated operating budgets in hospitals and other health facilities. Combined with supply chain problems, that means crucial items — like needles, syringes and medications, for example — have been much more difficult to get, especially with deadly second waves across Africa and India.

On a more granular level, we saw HIV diagnosis and treatment referrals fall 37% from April to September 2020. Health facilities across Africa reported a 17% decrease in malaria diagnoses and a 15% decrease in malaria treatment during this same period. TB diagnosis and treatment referrals fell by 59%.

Read the full article aboutCOVID-19 impact on global diseasesby Madeleine Keck at Global Citizen.