PAHO increases treatment for COVID-19 in Latin America and the Caribbean

The World Health Organization (PAHO) continues to join forces in the fight against the coronavirus. Now, the health agency has made more than 11,000 vials of tocilizumab available to 16 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, a medicine that should improve the treatment of seriously ill patients.

“The drug tocilizumab has been shown to reduce mortality in hospitalized patients with severe or critical COVID-19 who are deteriorating rapidly or need increased oxygen levels and who have a significant inflammatory response,” said Sylvain Aldighieri, COVID-19 incident manager. at PAHO.

According to the PAHO spokesman, the drug “can help save lives in hospitalized patients” due to the coronavirus, so it can be a great relief for many patients in the region who do not even have access to this treatment due to lack of resources. economic.

The operation, whose approximate cost is two million dollars, has been possible thanks to the support of the United States Government in its effort to increase equitable access to coronavirus treatments.

“The drug was not available in many countries in the region, so PAHO wanted to make sure that they had this additional tool for the clinical management of patients with COVID-19 and to reduce mortality,” Aldighieri added in this regard.

2.8 million deaths during the pandemic in the region

According to PAHO data, since the start of the pandemic, 2.8 million deaths have been recorded throughout the American continent. Despite the fact that the vaccines caused a drastic reduction in hospitalizations and the most serious cases, the deadly virus continues to haunt the population of “risk groups, such as the elderly or people with serious underlying diseases.”

“In the last week alone, COVID-19 was responsible for more than 4,300 deaths in the region,” the health agency reported.

How does the treatment work?

Still, the immunosuppressant tocilizumab is expected to help reduce the most severe cases of coronavirus. According to PAHO, the drug “administers monoclonal antibodies directed against interleukin 6 (IL-6) receptors and blocks them.” “The cellular protein Interleukin-6 induces an inflammatory response and is found at high levels in patients in critical condition due to Covid-19,” they point out.

The WHO included it in the list of treatments

At the beginning of last year, the World Health Organization (WHO) already included this drug in the list of prequalified treatments for Covid-19. Initially, as explained by PAHO, “the drug was originally developed to treat arthritis and has been authorized for this use in many countries.”

Ludovic Reveiz, PAHO Health Research Management Advisor, stressed that tocilizumab must be administered intravenously and its use is limited exclusively to hospitals since it is doctors and health workers who must proceed with these treatments, in addition to incorporate “standard care measures for severe Covid-19, such as oxygen, corticosteroids and other medications.”

Which countries have received the treatment package for Covid-19?

So far, the 16 countries that have received donations of tocilizumab from PAHO are Belize, Bolivia, Dominica, El Salvador, Grenada, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Nicaragua, Peru, the Dominican Republic, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent, and the Grenadines, Suriname and Venezuela.

It is expected that in the near future Panama will also receive a package of vials so that it can be administered among the most serious patients affected by coronavirus.

Lack of resources in some countries

The main problem faced by regional governments is that this treatment is very expensive, so its acquisition is very limited. Reveiz pointed out that many countries have had to make extraordinary expenses to alleviate the negative effects of the coronavirus, so allocating more resources for this type of treatment, in many cases, becomes unfeasible. For this reason, he insists, that this type of donation alleviates the situation in those most disadvantaged nations.

“Health systems in the region have already been overstretched by the pandemic and are still struggling to identify and treat severe COVID-19 patients, so the availability of this drug can have a real impact,” Reveiz said.

All in all, the PAHO specialist warns that “COVID-19 will continue among us”, so that “having access to this medicine provides countries with one more tool in their arsenal against the disease.”

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