The Effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on the Indicators of the End Tuberculosis Strategy: A Literature Review

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) had severely taken a toll on the health system in all nations from the wealthiest to the poorest countries. The disruption to the health system was not only due to the direct effects of the COVID-19 pandemic but also the pressure it caused to stretch the health systems beyond their capability indirectly. The purpose of this review was to explore the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the indicators of the end tuberculosis strategy. Methods: Articles were searched from scientific search engines such as CINAHL Plus (EBSCO), PubMed, Google Scholar, Medline, ProQuest, APA Psych, INFO as well as manual searches through Google and Google Scholar search engines. Both quantitative and qualitative studies that showed the impact or effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on TB diagnosis, TB patient management, treatment initiation, treatment adherence, patients’ loss to follow up were included. A total of 375 articles were screened, and 12 full-text articles were ultimately included in the review. Findings: The extracted impact were synthesized thematically into three indicators of the end TB strategy: impact on TB incidence rate; impact on TB deaths; Impact on catastrophic costs due to TB. Conclusion: The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the three indicators of the end TB strategy and has significantly reversed the global TB progress in the fight to end TB epidemic. This has increased the risk of TB incidence, deaths, and the severity of economic impact on TB-affected households. Therefore, there is a need for countries to take step forward and develop intervention strategies that will help them to resolve the damage caused by the pandemic on the achieve the targets to end TB. This study could improve strategies implementation regarding the management of TB disease.