ArticlePloS one2023
Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on Tuberculosis and HIV services in Ghana: An interrupted time series analysis.
Article in PloS one, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 11 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
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Who cites it
11 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Impact of COVID-19 on Utilization of Healthcare Services Among People Living with HIV (PLHIV): A Systematic Review.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2025Pooled it
- Optimizing Tuberculosis Incidence Prediction: A Systematic Review of Hybrid Modeling Approaches and Machine Learning Techniques.Public health challenges · 2026Review
- Prevalence and determinants of unsuccessful tuberculosis treatment outcomes among children in Northern Ghana: a retrospective review.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- A mixed-method evaluation of the impact of introducing 52 digital X-ray systems in Ghanaian health facilities on tuberculosis case finding and quality of care.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV, malaria, tuberculosis and childhood vaccination services in Guinea: an interrupted time series analysis.BMJ global health · 2025Article
- Clustering and modeling joint-trajectories of HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis mortality rates using bayesian multi-process latent growth model: A global study from 1990 to 2021.BMC infectious diseases · 2025Article
- Study on the prediction performance of AIDS monthly incidence in Xinjiang based on time series and deep learning models.BMC public health · 2025Article
- Scaling up tuberculosis case finding via private providers in Ghana: an impact evaluation using interrupted time series.Frontiers in public health · 2025Article
- Article
- Association of SARS-CoV-2 Seropositivity with Persistent Immune Activation in HIV/Tuberculosis Co-Infected Patients.Reports (MDPI) · 2024Article
- Effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on HIV, malaria and tuberculosis indicators in Togo: an interrupted time series analysis.BMJ global health · 2024Article
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Authors and funding
7 authors at 3 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) burden, coupled with unprecedented control measures including physical distancing, travel bans, and lockdowns of cities, implemented to stop the spread of the virus, have undoubtedly far-reaching aftereffects on other diseases. In low and middle-income countries (LMICs), a particular worry is the potential impact on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Tuberculosis (TB), as a consequence of possible disruption to health services and limiting access to needed life-saving health care. In Ghana, there is a paucity of information regarding the impact of COVID-19 on disease control, particularly TB and HIV control. This study sought to contribute to bridging this knowledge gap.
methodThe study involved the analysis of secondary data obtained from the District Health Information Management System-2 (DHIMS-2) database of Ghana Health Service, from 2016 to 2020. Data were analysed using an interrupted time-series regression approach to estimate the impact of COVID-19 on TB case notification, HIV testing, and Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) initiations, using March 2020 as the event period.
resultsThe study showed that during the COVID-19 pandemic period, there was an abrupt decline of 20.5% (955CI: 16.0%, 24.5%) in TB case notifications in April and 32.7% (95%CI: 28.8%, 39.1%) in May 2020, with a median monthly decline of 21.4% from April-December 2020. A cumulative loss of 2,128 (20%; 95%CI: 13.3%, 26.7%) TB cases was observed nationwide as of December 2020. There was also a 40.3% decrease in people presenting for HIV tests in the first month of COVID-19 (April 2020) and a cumulative loss of 262620 (26.5%) HIV tests as of December 2020 attributable to the COVID-19 pandemic. ART initiations increased by 39.2% in the first month and thereafter decreased by an average of 10% per month from May to September 2020. Cumulatively, 443 (1.9%) more of the people living with HIV initiated ART during the pandemic period, however, this was not statistically significant.
conclusionThis study demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic negatively impacted TB case notifications and HIV testing and counselling services, However, ART initiation was generally not impacted during the first year of the pandemic. Proactive approaches aimed at actively finding the thousands of individuals with TB who were missed in 2020 and increasing HIV testing and counselling and subsequent treatment initiations should be prioritised.
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