COVID-19 disruption causing many deaths from TB, AIDS in poorest countries, fund says

FILE PHOTO: A healthcare worker sets up a mobile clinic in Gugulethu township near Cape Town, South Africa, March 26, 2021. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

GENEVA (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people will die of tuberculosis left untreated because of disruption to healthcare systems in poor countries caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a global aid fund said.

In a few of the world's poorest countries, excess deaths from AIDS and tuberculosis (TB) could even exceed those from the coronavirus itself, said the head of the Geneva-based aid body, known as the Global Fund.