The impact of immigration on tuberculosis and HIV burden between Colombia and Venezuela and across frontier regions

Bibliographic Data

ID5167445
AuthorsNelson Enrique Arenas-Suarez (0000-0002-7665-8955, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Colombia; Universidad de Cundinamarca, Colombia), Laura I Cuervo (0000-0001-6183-7670, Universidad Antonio Nariño), Edier F Avila (0000-0002-8997-9125, University of Cundinamarca), Alejandro Duitama-Leal (0000-0002-5477-2191, University of Cundinamarca), Andrea Clemencia Pineda-Peña (0000-0003-1937-0506, Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia, Colombia; Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales, Colombia)
Year2021
Volume37
Issue5
Pagese00078820-e00078820
Publication date2021-01-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueCadernos de Saude Publica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0102-311X • E-ISSN: 1678-4464
PublisherFapUNIFESP (SciELO) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1590/0102-311x00078820
PMID34076096
OpenAlexW3164805835
SCIELO_PIDS0102-311X2021000505010
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited42

Historically, human migrations have determined the spread of many infectious diseases by promoting the emergence of temporal outbreaks between populations. We aimed to analyze health indicators, expenditure, and disability caused by tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS burden under the Colombian-Venezuelan migration flow focusing on the Northeastern border. A retrospective study was conducted using TB and HIV/AIDS data since 2009. We consolidated a database using official reports from the Colombian Surveillance System, World Health Organization, Indexmundi, the Global Health Observatory, IHME HIV atlas, and Joint United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Disability metrics regarding DALYs (disability adjusted life years) and YLDs (years lived with disability), were compared between countries. Mapping was performed on ArcGIS using official migration data of Venezuelan citizens. Our results indicate that TB profiles from Colombia and Venezuela are identical in terms of disease burden, except for an increase in TB incidence in the Colombian-Venezuelan border departments in recent years, concomitantly with the massive Venezuelan immigration since 2005. We identified a four-fold underfunding for the TB program in Venezuela, which might explain the low-testing rates for cases of multidrug-resistant TB (67%) and HIV/AIDS (60%), as well as extended hospital stays (150 days). We found a significant increase in DALYs of HIV/AIDS patients in Venezuela, specifically, 362.35 compared to 265.37 observed in Colombia during 2017. This study suggests that the Venezuelan massive migration and program underfunding might exacerbate the dual burden of TB and HIV in Colombia, especially towards the Colombian-Venezuelan border

Environmental health · Geography · Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) · Immigration · Outbreak · Public health · Socioeconomics · Tuberculosis · Demography · Global Health and Epidemiology · Immune responses and vaccinations · Medicine · Tuberculosis Research and Epidemiology · Virology