By Bisola Adeyemo
World Health Organisation (WHO) in a statement on its website, revealed that people living with HIV and COVID-19 virus ends up dying in the hospital.
The statement quoted Dr Meg Doherty, Director of WHO’s Global HIV, Hepatitis and STI Programmes, as saying “the report released today (Thursday) will have important policy implications, NAN reports.
The report is based on clinical surveillance data from 37 countries regarding the risk of poor COVID-19 outcomes in people living with HIV (PLHIV) admitted to hospital for COVID-19.
It found that the risk of developing severe or fatal COVID-19 was 30 per cent greater in PLHIV compared to people without HIV infection and underlying conditions such as diabetes and hypertension are common among PLHIV.
Among male PLHIV over the age of 65 years, diabetes and hypertension were associated with an increased risk of more severe and fatal COVID-19 infection.
This highlights the need for PLHIV to stay as healthy as possible, regularly access and take their antiretroviral (ARV) medications and prevent and manage underlying conditions.
This also means that people living with HIV, independent of their immune status, should be prioritised for vaccination in most settings.
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