Global-, Regional-, and National-Level Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Tuberculosis Diagnoses, 2020-2021.

Evaluating cross-country variability on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tuberculosis (TB) may provide urgent inputs to control programs as countries recover from the pandemic. We compared expected TB notifications, modeled using trends in annual TB notifications from 2013-2019, with observed TB notifications to compute the observed to expected (OE) ratios for 170 countries. We applied the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) method to identify the covariates, out of 27 pandemic- and tuberculosis-relevant variables, that had the strongest explanatory power for log OE ratios. The COVID-19 pandemic was associated with a 1.55 million (95% CI: 1.26-1.85, 21.0% [17.5-24.6%]) decrease in TB diagnoses in 2020 and a 1.28 million (0.90-1.76, 16.6% [12.1-21.2%]) decrease in 2021 at a global level. India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and China contributed the most to the global declines for both years, while sub-Saharan Africa achieved pre-pandemic levels by 2021 (OE ratio = 1.02 [0.99-1.05]). Age-stratified analyses revealed that the ≥ 65-year-old age group experienced greater relative declines in TB diagnoses compared with the under 65-year-old age group in 2020 (RR = 0.88 [0.81-0.96]) and 2021 (RR = 0.88 [0.79-0.98]) globally. Covariates found to be associated with all-age OE ratios in 2020 were age-standardized smoking prevalence in 2019 (ß = 0.973 [0.957-990]), school closures (ß = 0.988 [0.977-0.998]), stay-at-home orders (ß = 0.993 [0.985-1.00]), SARS-CoV-2 infection rate (ß = 0.991 [0.987-0.996]), and proportion of population ≥65 years (ß = 0.971 [0.944-0.999]). Further research is needed to clarify the extent to which the observed declines in TB diagnoses were attributable to disruptions in health services, decreases in TB transmission, and COVID-19 mortality among TB patients.

Meningococcal A conjugate vaccine coverage in the meningitis belt of Africa from 2010 to 2021: a modelling study.

Background: As of the end of 2021, twenty-four countries in the African meningitis belt have rolled out mass campaigns of MenAfriVac®, a meningococcal A conjugate vaccine (MACV) first introduced in 2010. Twelve have completed introduction of MACV into routine immunisation (RI) schedules. Although select post-campaign coverage data are published, no study currently comprehensively estimates MACV coverage from both routine and campaign sources in the meningitis belt across age, country, and time. Methods: In this modelling study, we assembled campaign data from the twenty-four countries that had introduced any immunisation activity during or before the year 2021 (Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, Côte d'Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Eritrea, the Gambia, Ghana, Guinea, Guinea Bissau, Kenya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, South Sudan, Sudan, Togo and Uganda) via WHO reports and RI data via systematic review. Next, we modelled RI coverage using Spatiotemporal Gaussian Process Regression. Then, we synthesized these estimates with campaign data into a cohort model, tracking coverage for each age cohort from age 1 to 29 years over time for each country. Findings: Coverage in high-risk locations amongst children aged 1-4 in 2021 was estimated to be highest in Togo with 96.0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 92.0-99.0), followed by Niger with 87.2% (95% UI 85.3-89.0) and Burkina Faso, with 86.4% (95% UI 85.1-87.6). These countries had high coverage values driven by an initial successful mass immunisation campaign, followed by a catch-up campaign, followed by introduction of RI. Due to the influence of older mass vaccination campaigns, coverage proportions skewed higher in the 1-29 age group than the 1-4 group, with a median coverage of 82.9% in 2021 in the broader age group compared to 45.6% in the narrower age group. Interpretation: These estimates highlight where gaps in immunisation remain and emphasise the need for broader efforts to strengthen RI systems. This methodological framework can be applied to estimate coverage for any vaccine that has been delivered in both routine and supplemental immunisation activities. Funding: Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

Progress towards the 2020 milestones of the end TB strategy in Cambodia: estimates of age and sex specific TB incidence and mortality from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2019.

BACKGROUND: Cambodia was recently removed from the World Health Organization's (WHO's) top 30 high tuberculosis (TB) burden countries. However, Cambodia's TB burden remains substantial, and the country is on the WHO's new global TB watchlist. We aimed to examine the levels and trends in the fatal and non-fatal TB burden in Cambodia from 1990 to 2019, assessing progress towards the WHO End TB interim milestones, which aim to reduce TB incidence rate by 20% and TB deaths by 35% from 2015 to 2020. METHODS: We leveraged the Global Burden of Disease 2019 (GBD 2019) analytical framework to compute age- and sex-specific TB mortality and incidence by HIV status in Cambodia. We enumerated TB mortality utilizing a Bayesian hierarchical Cause of Death Ensemble modeling platform. We analyzed all available data sources, including prevalence surveys, population-based tuberculin surveys, and TB cause-specific mortality, to produce internally consistent estimates of incidence and mortality using a compartmental meta-regression tool (DisMod-MR 2.1). We further estimated the fraction of tuberculosis mortality among individuals without HIV coinfection attributable to the independent effects of alcohol use, smoking, and diabetes. RESULTS: In 2019, there were 6500 (95% uncertainty interval 4830-8680) deaths due to all-form TB and 50.0 (43.8-57.8) thousand all-form TB incident cases in Cambodia. The corresponding age-standardized rates were 53.3 (39.9-69.4) per 100,000 population for mortality and 330.5 (289.0-378.6) per 100,000 population for incidence. From 2015 to 2019, the number of all-form TB deaths decreased by 11.8% (2.3-21.1), while the age-standardized all-form TB incidence rate decreased by 11.1% (6.3-15.6). Among individuals without HIV coinfection in 2019, alcohol use accounted for 28.1% (18.2-37.9) of TB deaths, smoking accounted for 27.0% (20.2-33.3), and diabetes accounted for 12.5% (7.1-19.0). Removing the combined effects of these risk factors would reduce all-form TB deaths by 54.2% (44.2-62.2). DISCUSSION: Despite significant progress in reducing TB morbidity and mortality since 1990, Cambodia is not on track to achieve the 2020 WHO End TB interim milestones. Existing programs in Cambodia can benefit from liaising with risk factor control initiatives to accelerate progress toward eliminating TB in Cambodia.

Incidence of HIV in Sub-Saharan Africa, 2000-2015: The Interplay Between Social Determinants and Behavioral Risk Factors.

HIV incidence in sub-Saharan Africa declined substantially between 2000 and 2015. In this analysis, we consider the relative associations of nine structural and individual determinants with this decline. A linear mixed effects model of logged HIV incidence rates versus determinants was used. The data were from mathematical modelling as part of the 2019 Global Burden of Disease Study in 43 sub-Saharan African countries. We used forwards selection to determine a single final model of HIV incidence rate. The association of economic variables and HIV knowledge with incidence was found to be driven by education, while ART coverage had the largest impact on other determinants' coefficients. In the final model, education years per capita contributed the most to explaining variation in HIV incidence rates; a 1-year increase in mean education years was associated with a 0.39 (- 0.56; - 0.2, t = - 4.48 p < 0.01) % decline in incidence rate while a unit increase in ART coverage was associated with a 0.81 (- 1.34; - 0.28, t = - 3.01, p < 0.01) % decline in incidence rate.

Identification and Prediction of Tuberculosis in Eastern China: Analyses from 10-year Population-based Notification Data in Zhejiang Province, China.

Tuberculosis, a severe infectious disease caused by the Mycobacterium tuberculosis, arouses huge concerns globally. In this study, a total of 331,594 TB cases in Zhejiang Province were notified during the period of 2009-2018 with the gender ratio of male to female 2.16:1. The notified TB incidences demonstrated a continuously declining trend from 75.38/100,000 to 52.25/100,000. Seasonally, the notified TB cases presented as low in January and February closely followed an apparent rise in March and April. Further stratification analysis by both genders demonstrated the double peak phenomenon in the younger population ("15-35") and the elders (">55") of the whole group. Results from the rate difference (RD) analysis showed that the rising TB incidence mainly presented in the young group of "15-20" and elder group of "65-70", implying that some implementations such as the increased frequency of checkup in specific student groups and strengthening of elder health examination could be explored and integrated into available health policy. Finally, the SARIMA (2,0,2) (0,1,1)12 was determined as the optimal prediction model, which could be used in the further prediction of TB in Zhejiang Province.