Impact of Covid-19 Pandemic on Some Aspects of HIV Surveillance in North of Iran

COVID-19 could potentially disrupt routine care management in health systems. One of such problems is associated with HIV surveillance. The aim of this research was to study the effects of COVID-19 pandemic on HIV care indicators.

This retrospective cohort study was performed using data at individual and aggregate levels obtained from center for disease control and prevention in Mazandaran province affiliated with Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences. We modulated upon Poisson regression
for analyzing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on HIV incidence, mortality, treatment failure, hospitalization, refer to counselling center, HIV viral load (VL), and CD4 cell count monitoring. 

One year after COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of HIV was 0.44 per 100,000 people less compared with one year earlier (P= 0.051). CD4 counting and patients follow up at this time were 0.32 less (P< 0.001) and 1.11 more (P= 0.045) per 100,000 people, respectively compared with those before the COVID-19 pandemic.

Current study showed that COVID-19 pandemic disrupted HIV care. It seems that despite regular follow up services provided by health center staff, coronaphobia was a huge barrier to care programs in HIV patients.