The Social, Behavioral, and Ethical Modalities of COVID-19 on HIV Care in South Africa: A Systematic Review

The profound public health impact of the novel outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 2019 has been unparalleled in the last century. Rapid spread of the disease and a high death toll fueled the development and global rollout of effective vaccines regardless of the massive inequitable access. However,...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:International journal of environmental research and public health 2022-08, Vol.19 (15), p.9766
Main Authors: Roy, Khushali, Himelfarb, Aliayah, Karrah, Kapil, Porterfield, Laura, Paremoer, Lauren, Serag, Hani, Lee, Wei-Chen
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Acquired immune deficiency syndrome
AIDS
Antiretroviral therapy
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Ethics
Fatalities
Health risks
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus
Impact analysis
Infectious diseases
Morality
Pandemics
Public health
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Systematic Review
Vaccines
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Summary:The profound public health impact of the novel outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus in 2019 has been unparalleled in the last century. Rapid spread of the disease and a high death toll fueled the development and global rollout of effective vaccines regardless of the massive inequitable access. However, some public health measures intended to control COVID-19 have had collateral effects on the control of other infectious diseases. In this systematic review, we analyze the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on efforts to control HIV in South Africa, emphasizing the social, ethical, and behavioral ramifications. The SCOPUS, PubMed, Ovid, PsychINFO, and Cochrane Library databases were searched for publications between March 2020 and January 2022. Of the 854 articles identified, 245 were found duplicated, and 609 were screened, 241 of which were potentially eligible, and 15 of which were ultimately included. Although no studies on the ethical implications were eligible for our study criteria due to insufficient primary data to perform an analysis on, we explored this topic in the Discussion section of this paper. We confirm declines in ART, PrEP, and HIV testing during the initial lockdown period, with slight variations across the South African provinces. Protecting routine services and reducing the disease burden on high-risk nations such as South Africa is imperative moving forward with the pandemic.
ISSN:1660-4601
1661-7827
1660-4601
DOI:10.3390/ijerph19159766