The Covid-19 pandemic is starting to cause disruptions to global health care supply chains, slowing down the fight against all other diseases, including AIDS, Bill Gates has warned.

Gates, speaking at the International Aids Conference on Saturday, cited projections by the both the United Nations and the Global Fund that these disruptions could prevent hundreds of thousands of people from getting the treatments they need in Sub-Saharan Africa alone.

The Microsoft co-founder said that because of the advances made by researchers to help identify those infected, along with improved diagnostic tools and progress with vaccinations, he remains optimistic that we will defeat Covid-19 and continue making strides with HIV/AIDS.

The philanthropist cautioned that if drugs and vaccines go out to the highest bidder instead of to the people and places who really need them, we will have a “longer, more unjust, deadlier pandemic.”

“We need leaders to make these hard decisions about distributing based on equity not just on market-driven factors” Gates said.

CNN