The impact of immigration on tuberculosis and HIV burden between Colombia and Venezuela and across frontier regions El impacto de la inmigración en la tuberculosis y la carga del VIH entre Colombia y Venezuela a través de las regiones fronterizas O impacto da imigração sobre a tuberculose e a carga de HIV entre Colômbia e Venezuela e nas regiões de fronteira

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 ColombianVenezuelan 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. Tuberculosis; HIV; Drug Resistance; Human Migration Correspondence N. E. Arenas-Suarez Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Antonio Nariño. Cra. 1 # 47a-15, Bogotá/Cundinamarca – 110231, Colombia. narenas69@uan.edu.co 1 Faculdad de Ciencias, Universidad Antonio Nariño, Bogotá, Colombia. 2 Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Cundinamarca, Fusagasugá, Colombia. 3 Facultad Educación, Universidad de Cundinamarca, Fusagasugá, Colombia. 4 Departamento de Biología Molecular e Inmunología, Fundación Instituto de Inmunología de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia. 5 Facultad de Ciencias Agropecuarias, Universidad de Ciencias Aplicadas y Ambientales, Bogotá, Colombia. This article is published in Open Access under the Creative Commons Attribution license, which allows use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, without restrictions, as long as the original work is correctly cited. Arenas-Suarez NE et al. 2 Cad. Saúde Pública 2021; 37(5):e00078820 Introduction The massive migration of Venezuelan citizens to Colombia started in 2005. Thereafter, a second exodus occurred in 2010 with the arrival of middle-class individuals escaping from the expropriation policies and devaluation of the Venezuelan currency. Between 2017 and 2019, more than one million Venezuelans arrived in Colombia and around 5,300 people requested asylum, causing a large-scale migratory crisis (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/ situations/vensit, accessed on 11/Feb/2020). The Venezuelan socio-political situation has prompted exodus, due to the shortage of medicine, decrease in life expectancy, and the spread of several diseases of public health significance 1,2,3. Altogether, the health concerns of Venezuelan migrants are focused on receiving diagnosis, treatment, and social welfare 4,5. The departments of Norte de Santander, Santander, and La Guajira are located on the Colombian-Venezuelan border (Northeastern Region) and constitute a migratory passage towards other Colombian cities or international destinations. These departments have recorded a rise in cases of many communicable diseases including tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS, which might be boosted by the massive immigration 6,7. Tuberculosis affects populations from low and middle-income countries in diverse geopolitical and socioeconomic settings. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 10 million new cases of TB (range 9.0-11.1 million) worldwide, including 1.3 million deaths among HIV-negative patients (range 1.2-1.4 million) and 300,000 deaths among HIV-positive patients (range 266,000335,000). Therefore, the attributable mortality was equivalent to 16% of notified patients and composes one of the top ten causes of death worldwide produced by a single pathogen 8. According to the WHO, TB incidences for Colombia and Venezuela in 2017 were 33 and 42 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively. The main challenges faced by TB control programs are associated with diagnosis, case reporting, and therapeutic outcomes 9. Although Colombia and Venezuela are classified at medium risk for TB, there is limited access to health services due to geographic barriers. Furthermore, case screening and program funding face several persistent problems. Concomitantly, in some regions, missing data might be associated with disease underestimation and, consequently, low screening efforts for respiratory symptomatic subjects 10. Therefore, disease progression and the emergence of multidrugresistant strains are affected by failures in TB control 11. On the other hand, HIV is the causative agent of the AIDS, a disease of public health significance. The Joint Program of the United Nations (UN) has defined a strategy of UNAIDS (for 2016-2021) seeking to end the epidemic of AIDS by 2030 12,13. The number of new HIV infections declined from 3.4 million in 1996 to 1.8 million in 2017, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and the Pacific. In Latin America, the trend of new HIV infections is stable, displaying a 1% reduction due to the implementation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage. It is estimated that 1.8 million people are living with HIV in this region; most are concentrated in Brazil and Mexico, followed by Colombia and Venezuela. The HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Venezuelan young adult population was 0.6% in 2016 but increased to 0.9% in 2017. Furthermore, in Colombia, the prevalence of this disease remained at 0.5% (0.4-0.6) in recent years (https://www.indexmundi.com/, accessed on 11/Feb/2020). The main challenges faced by the HIV/AIDS control program are focused on early diagnosis, retention in HIV care, sustainable ART supplies, viral suppression, and social stigmatization of patients (UNAIDS. https://aidsinfo.unaids.org/, accessed on 24/Mar/2019) 14. The ongoing political and economic crisis in Venezuela has been a driver of the public health system collapse, also, the country has been dealing with declining oil prices, excessive government spending, inflation problems, food insecurity, and barriers in accessing health services and treatments. Altogether, the influence of immigration on the burden of certain communicable diseases might be an underestimated and disregarded issue in the Colombian-Venezuelan border, specifically, in the departments of Norte de Santander, Santander, and La Guajira 6,7. Therefore, our purpose was to analyze health indicators, health expenditure, and disability caused by TB and HIV/AIDS epidemics between Colombia and Venezuela after the Venezuelan migration, focusing on the Northeastern border departments. TUBERCULOSIS AND HIV TRENDS IN THE COLOMBIAN-VENEZUELAN BORDER 3 Cad. Saúde Pública 2021; 37(5):e00078820 Methods


Introduction
The massive migration of Venezuelan citizens to Colombia started in 2005. Thereafter, a second exodus occurred in 2010 with the arrival of middle-class individuals escaping from the expropriation policies and devaluation of the Venezuelan currency. Between 2017 and 2019, more than one million Venezuelans arrived in Colombia and around 5,300 people requested asylum, causing a large-scale migratory crisis (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/ situations/vensit, accessed on 11/Feb/2020). The Venezuelan socio-political situation has prompted exodus, due to the shortage of medicine, decrease in life expectancy, and the spread of several diseases of public health significance 1,2,3 . Altogether, the health concerns of Venezuelan migrants are focused on receiving diagnosis, treatment, and social welfare 4,5 . The departments of Norte de Santander, Santander, and La Guajira are located on the Colombian-Venezuelan border (Northeastern Region) and constitute a migratory passage towards other Colombian cities or international destinations. These departments have recorded a rise in cases of many communicable diseases including tuberculosis (TB) and HIV/AIDS, which might be boosted by the massive immigration 6,7 .
Tuberculosis affects populations from low and middle-income countries in diverse geopolitical and socioeconomic settings. In 2017, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported 10 million new cases of TB (range 9.0-11.1 million) worldwide, including 1.3 million deaths among HIV-negative patients (range 1.2-1.4 million) and 300,000 deaths among HIV-positive patients (range 266,000-335,000). Therefore, the attributable mortality was equivalent to 16% of notified patients and composes one of the top ten causes of death worldwide produced by a single pathogen 8 . According to the WHO, TB incidences for Colombia and Venezuela in 2017 were 33 and 42 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively.
The main challenges faced by TB control programs are associated with diagnosis, case reporting, and therapeutic outcomes 9 . Although Colombia and Venezuela are classified at medium risk for TB, there is limited access to health services due to geographic barriers. Furthermore, case screening and program funding face several persistent problems. Concomitantly, in some regions, missing data might be associated with disease underestimation and, consequently, low screening efforts for respiratory symptomatic subjects 10 . Therefore, disease progression and the emergence of multidrugresistant strains are affected by failures in TB control 11 .
On the other hand, HIV is the causative agent of the AIDS, a disease of public health significance. The Joint Program of the United Nations (UN) has defined a strategy of UNAIDS (for 2016-2021) seeking to end the epidemic of AIDS by 2030 12,13 . The number of new HIV infections declined from 3.4 million in 1996 to 1.8 million in 2017, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean, Asia, and the Pacific. In Latin America, the trend of new HIV infections is stable, displaying a 1% reduction due to the implementation of antiretroviral therapy (ART) coverage. It is estimated that 1.8 million people are living with HIV in this region; most are concentrated in Brazil and Mexico, followed by Colombia and Venezuela. The HIV/AIDS prevalence in the Venezuelan young adult population was 0.6% in 2016 but increased to 0.9% in 2017. Furthermore, in Colombia, the prevalence of this disease remained at 0.5% (0.4-0.6) in recent years (https://www.indexmundi.com/, accessed on 11/Feb/2020). The main challenges faced by the HIV/AIDS control program are focused on early diagnosis, retention in HIV care, sustainable ART supplies, viral suppression, and social stigmatization of patients (UNAIDS. https://aidsinfo.unaids.org/, accessed on 24/Mar/2019) 14 .
The ongoing political and economic crisis in Venezuela has been a driver of the public health system collapse, also, the country has been dealing with declining oil prices, excessive government spending, inflation problems, food insecurity, and barriers in accessing health services and treatments. Altogether, the influence of immigration on the burden of certain communicable diseases might be an underestimated and disregarded issue in the Colombian-Venezuelan border, specifically, in the departments of Norte de Santander, Santander, and La Guajira 6,7 . Therefore, our purpose was to analyze health indicators, health expenditure, and disability caused by TB and HIV/AIDS epidemics between Colombia and Venezuela after the Venezuelan migration, focusing on the Northeastern border departments.

Study area
The departments of Norte de Santander (population 1.367 million inhabitants) and Santander (2.071 million inhabitants) are located in Northeastern Colombia, close to the border with Venezuela. Both departments are situated in the Andean region, which is the most densely populated area (70% population) of Colombia. The department of La Guajira (985,498 inhabitants) is located in the far Northeast, in the Caribbean region, bordering the Southeast with Venezuela.

Migration data and georeferencing analysis
We compiled map-based information on the displacement of Venezuelan citizens reported in the official figures of the International Office of Migration (IOM) and the Migration Colombia of the Colombian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These records were consolidated in a geographic database and analyzed using ArcGIS program v10.4 (http://www.esri.com/software/arcgis/index.html) to standardize, to update, and to generate thematic maps associated with migratory flow.

Data collection
An observational, descriptive, and retrospective study was conducted based on data deposited in the Colombian Surveillance System (SIVIGILA) collected by the Colombian National Institute of Health (INS), the Venezuelan Health Surveillance (OVS), and global registries in Indexmundi, the WHO, and UNAIDS. The observation period was nine years (2009-2018) for TB and HIV according to official notifications from Venezuela and Colombia, including Norte de Santander, Santander, and La Guajira as border departments.

HIV/AIDS and TB data acquisition
Data from SIVIGILA were collected and analyzed based on weekly bulletins and final reports of communicable diseases such as TB, multidrug-resistant TB (MDR-TB), and HIV/AIDS (https://www. ins.gov.co/buscador-eventos/Paginas/Info-Evento.aspx, accessed on 11/Feb/2020). We consulted annual reports of TB, drug-resistant TB, and HIV/AIDS, focusing on data for La Guajira, Santander, and Norte de Santander. Furthermore, we included only new disease cases, while extrapulmonary TB, relapses, or previous antituberculous cases were excluded. Country profiles were retrieved from official surveillance data from the WHO for TB and MDR-TB, as well as UNAIDS reports (http:// aidsinfo.unaids.org/) for HIV/AIDS. These reports and databases of epidemiological surveillance are consistent and informative regarding the Millennium Development Goals. We conducted an epidemiological analysis using the interactive tool Indexmundi (https://www.indexmundi.com/). Several health indicators were chronologically compared regarding public health status among countries and regions.
Furthermore, records on health expenditure per country were retrieved from the Global Health Observatory (GHO) database (https://www.who.int/gho/countries/col/country_profiles/en/), the Global Health Expenditure Database (GHED), and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation -IHME HIV Atlas (https://hiv.ihme.services/). HIV/AIDS spending trends included development assistance, out-of-pocket, prepaid private, and government. Health care access and quality were retrieved from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD -https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/) according to country profiles for disability-adjusted life years (DALYs). DALY defines an index based on premature death and health-related suffering to portray the total years of healthy life lost due to all causes. We also analyzed the years lived with disability (YLD) by comparing parameters in the Viz-Hub tool at GBD (https://vizhub.healthdata.org/gbd-compare/) 15 . YLDs correspond to years of life lived with any short-term or long-term health loss.

Statistical analysis
We consolidated the data in Excel to analyze disease rates per 100,000 inhabitants, year, and place. Disease incidence was estimated by comparing the number of cases with population projections for Colombia in 2017, estimated by the National Administrative Department of Statistics (DANE). Comparisons between DALYs and YLDs were performed using non-parametric statistics with the Kruskal-Wallis, Post-hoc, and Wilcoxon tests in the R program v3.6 (http://www.r-project.org).

Ethical aspects
This study was performed using publicly accessible data available at the INS-SIVIGILA web portal and following the Declaration of Helsinki from the World Medical Association.

Analysis of the Venezuelan movement into Colombia and other countries
Tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS have emerged as public threats considering the current socio-economic crisis in Venezuela. Therefore, we compared the migration records of Colombia and Venezuela. The IOM reported an increase in Venezuelan asylum applications to countries in the Andean region, such as Ecuador, Peru, and Chile. Furthermore, IOM estimated that 4.7% and 5.4% of the Venezuelan population emigrated between 2016 and 2017, respectively. We mapped the migration of Venezuelan citizens using geographic information systems and thematic maps. Our estimations indicated that Colombia has been the most frequent destination for Venezuelan citizens or it may represent a transit place to migrate to other countries.

Comparison of TB profiles between Colombia and Venezuela
The TB rate in Colombia was 20.3 cases per 100,000 inhabitants on average since 2010; however, this estimate varied across departments. Therefore, we analyzed the situation of TB in the Colombian-Venezuelan border based on local reports from Santander, Norte de Santander, and La Guajira. TB notifications showed an annual increase in the number of pulmonary and extrapulmonary cases from 2009 to 2017 in Santander and Norte de Santander. Pulmonary TB raised from 452 to 526 cases between 2014 and 2017, and TB incidence increased from 22 to 25.3 cases per 100,000 population in the same period in Santander. The situation in Norte de Santander also increased from 359 to 401 cases with an incidence between 24.3 and 29.1 per 100,000 inhabitants ( Figure 2).
Regarding La Guajira, TB records were similar between 2009 and 2010 (31.7 and 34 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, respectively) and these values were comparable to TB cases reported in 2018. TB rates were below 25 cases per 100,000 inhabitants between 2011 and 2016 ( Figure 2). Although TB incidence in La Guajira is higher than the national average, some municipalities, such as Dibulla, Maicao, Riohacha, and Uribia, have reported markedly high rates (e.g., 1,336 TB cases per 100,000 inhabitants in Dibulla).
In order to determine the status of the TB control programs in both countries, we compared the country profiles for disease rates, treatment outcomes, drug resistance, patient care, and deaths based on WHO's official records. In 2017, Colombia and Venezuela showed similar TB indicators for disease rates, mortality in HIV-positive and negative patients, and incidence of MDR-TB/RR (i.e., rifampicin resistance). We found a considerably lower percentage of TB cases with known HIV status Cad. Saúde Pública 2021; 37(5):e00078820

Figure 2
Incidence rate of tuberculosis in the departments of Santander, Norte de Santander, and La Guajira from Colombia between 2009-2018.
Note: the Venezuelan migration (second exodus) is depicted with black arrows.

Expenditure in TB and HIV control programs and health actions
We compared financial health expenditure for both countries since TB indicators can be affected by the lack of health care at the primary level. Our comparative analysis showed that the national budget in 2017 for the TB control program in Venezuela was USD 2.8 million (sources of financing: 14% domestic, 0% international, and 86% non-funded). Furthermore, in Colombia, the budget was UDS 12 million (sources of financing: 31% domestic, 0% international, and 69% non-funded) in the same year. Moreover, the average cost per TB patient has been declining until USD 100 until 2016, and a similar trend was observed regarding expenditures for MDR-TB patients in Venezuela. In Colombia, these values reached USD 200 per patient with susceptible TB and above USD 5,000 per MDR-TB patient. Investment in the HIV/AIDS program in Colombia reached 260 million dollars by 2018 and this funding is expected to increase to more than one billion by 2040 (Figure 3a). Although funding was similar in Venezuela until 2018, these financial resources might have only doubled since then. Consequently, projections for HIV/AIDS incidence in Venezuela show an increase by 2040 (Figure 3b).
Since minimal health care actions can affect the outcomes of many communicable diseases, we determined the current health expenditure (CHE) per capita (USD) for both countries based on reported values in the Global Health Expenditure Database. The CHE per capita in Colombia was consistently 6.0% and the domestic general government health expenditure (GGHE-D) and health prioritization was 13% in 2016. On the other hand, CHE per capita in Venezuela was 3.2% and GGHE-D and health prioritization was 0.8% in 2016.  (Figure 4b).

Disease effects on TB and HIV/AIDS patients
We also compared YLDs from GBD estimates for TB and HIV/AIDS in Colombia and Venezuela, including both genders, all age groups, and units by rate. No major differences in YLDs for TB were observed between both countries. In Venezuela, YLDs      Figure S1. http://cadernos.ensp.fiocruz.br/static//arquivo/suppl-csp-0788-20_1385.pdf). On the other hand, no statistical differences in DALYs (p-value = 0.3419) and YLDs (p-value = 0.3016) for TB were found between countries.   Comparative analyses showed that, in Colombia, 108 HIV cases of foreign origin were reported in 2017, including 90 cases (83%) from Venezuela, mainly in Norte de Santander and Bogota (25 and 30 cases, respectively). In 2018, official records confirmed 410 cases of foreign origin, including 383 (93.4%) from Venezuela. Most cases were centered in Bogota (102 cases), followed by Norte de Santander (70 cases), Antioquia (35 cases), Santander (16 cases), and La Guajira (17 cases). Finally, our results indicated that TB is the third most prevalent opportunistic coinfection in people living with HIV in Colombia, accounting for 343 cases and 296 cases in 2017 and 2018, respectively.

Discussion
In South America, the highest migrations have occurred from Colombia, Venezuela, Chile, and Brazil and they are driven by low socio-economic conditions, violence, and lack of social welfare 16 . The Venezuelan migration crisis has reached an alarming situation, leading to the displacement of nearly 1.6 million people and an increase of asylum applications to Colombia in the last years (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. https://data2.unhcr.org/en/situations/vensit, accessed on 11/Feb/2020). The unknown number of Venezuelans that reside illegally in Colombia might be the most vulnerable population to cases of labor exploitation, extortion, violence, illegal trafficking, sexual abuse, forced recruitment, discrimination, and xenophobia 17,18 . Assuring health services, education, and other basic services to the migrant population is likely a cumbersome issue in the border departments (i.e., Santander, Norte de Santander, and La Guajira) that requires extra resources, strategies, or immigration policies 19,20 .
The political and socioeconomic situation in Venezuela has exacerbated a crisis in the health system considering the emergence of different infectious diseases that may become the major epidemic focus in the Americas 16,21 . In the globalized era, these diseases are preventable, yet they are emerging at an unprecedented speed depending on different environmental and demographic factors, such as human susceptibility to infections, availability of health services, food production, human behavior (e.g., trade and travel), environmental and ecological changes, economic development, war, food depletion, availability of public health infrastructure, and pathogen evolution 4,5,22 . The situation of TB in Venezuela cannot improve without changing the political situation of the country and it is directly affected by the shortage of food, medicine, and vaccines and the impoverishment of medical infrastructure in the concomitant economic crisis 21,23 . In addition, precarious access to adequate food, extreme poverty, and scarce health insurance coverage in Venezuela could promote favorable conditions for active TB transmission 24 . The high rate of immigrants and native populations, overcrowding, and poverty can increase the probability of TB spread 25,26 . Thus, areas of low incidence in the Colombian-Venezuelan border can become new foci of active transmission of TB 27 .
Another issue arises due to the spread of MDR-TB, which might become a major problem since migration is a current driver of disease transmission 28 . This study describes a severe underfunding of the TB program, which might be associated with possible drug shortage and a considerable number of patients who have abandoned TB treatment in Venezuela, and this issue likely contributes to the rise in MDR-TB cases 16,29 . Drug susceptibility testing should be an essential tool for diagnosis, especially in patients who lack adherence to treatment or register failures and possible diseases reactivations. Beyond this situation, possible underestimation of communicable diseases and antitubercular drug shortage can promote unforeseen issues in the national control program 16 .
Similar to the scenario of TB, the HIV program in Venezuela reported a 43% ART shortage and scarcity of 23 drugs, which have affected pregnant women with HIV since 2009 30 . Other problems faced by the HIV/AIDS control program arise from late diagnosis, the socio-economic conditions of patients, lack of prevention strategies, and limited testing opportunities 30,31 . As a result of migration, disease spread occurs to neighboring countries, such as Colombia, Brazil, Peru, and Aruba, which have already reported alarming rates and difficulties in providing ART treatment 32,33,34 . TB remains a frequent opportunistic disease in HIV patients, as suggested in this study; therefore, it is essential to continue with collaborative actions between TB and HIV control programs 35,36,37,38 .
The geographic distribution of TB and HIV outbreaks in Colombia and Venezuela shows a progressive displacement of the affected or vulnerable population (e.g. native population). Furthermore, the migrant condition of this population might enhance the spread of these diseases from endemic areas to the Colombian-Venezuelan border departments (e.g., La Guajira, Santander, and Norte de Santander) 39,40,41 . The continuous migrations of Venezuelans in precarious conditions are associated with forced displacement, commercial activities, health insurance, and supply of medicines and food 16,21,23 .
According to UNAIDS and the WHO, both countries have made several efforts to scale up national HIV and TB prevention, counseling, testing, and control programs 13 (UNAIDS data. https://aidsinfo. unaids.org/, accessed on 24/Mar/2019). However, progress might be halted due to funding issues that threaten program sustainability and health care, attributed to limited availability of supplies for Cad. Saúde Pública 2021; 37(5):e00078820 testing, prevention, and immigration 42,43 . Thus, changes in patient disability/health loss indicated by DALYs and YLDs, TB and HIV burden might be the consequence of a multifaceted interaction between low funding, poor governance, and enhanced migration flow. Our results regarding high TB and HIV/AIDS burden in Colombian-Venezuelan border departments are also consistent with low human development index, lack of health insurance, high cost of drugs, and malnutrition risk factors 7,44,45,46 . Here, we report a shift in DALYs for HIV/AIDS in Venezuela during a 20-year time-frame, which might have been exacerbated by HIV epidemics along with underfunding of the HIV control program. We demonstrate that DALY trends suggest a detriment in healthy life years of the Venezuelan population; therefore, the UNAIDS strategy must be urgently reinforced to avoid a major public health crisis 47,48,49 . A related effort from the Colombian government was to issue an urgent and desperate policy in 2018 (CONPES 3950) to define the health care strategy for Venezuelan immigrants 50 .
This study limitations are related to possible bias for some TB and HIV/AIDS data from different sources and missing epidemiological data for Venezuela, such as indexes at different scales. However, those differences did not compromise the results and the analysis of this study.

Conclusions
Venezuela displays more TB patients with unknown HIV-status, prolonged hospital stays, lower susceptibility testing to second-line drugs, lower MDR-TB patients with previous antituberculous treatment, higher HIV/AIDS lethality, increased disability (i.e., DALYs and YLDs), and greater budget deficit compared with Colombia.
Venezuelan immigration could imply a shift in the epidemiological trends of TB, MDR-TB, and HIV rates in Colombia, especially in departments of the Colombian-Venezuelan border.
This study suggests that human migration, underfunding, and poor governance might delay the progress towards the WHO goal to end/reduce the TB and HIV/AIDS epidemics by 2030.
Cad. Saúde Pública 2021; 37(5):e00078820 Contributors N. E. Arenas-Suarez conceived the study and collected and analyzed data. L. I. Cuervo interpreted epidemiological data. E. F. Avila interpreted the immigration data. A. Duitama-Leal performed statistical analysis. A. C. Pineda-Peña conceived the study, collected and analyzed the HIV/AIDS data. All authors wrote the manuscript, reviewed and approved the final version of the manuscript.