“Mpox is not the ‘new Covid’“. This is the first message that Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization (WHO) regional director for Europe, is keen to put down on the so-called monkeypox, “regardless of whether it is clade I of the virus, responsible for the current outbreak in east-central Africa, or clade II, responsible for the 2022 outbreak that initially hit Europe and has continued to circulate” in the area since then. And the second key point, he stressed in a statement, is that “we know how to control Mpox and, in the European region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether”. The disease known as monkeypox (before the name change ordered by the WHO) is a challenge, Kluge admits, in several ways. It is a “test of global equity” and, he warns, “how we respond now and in the years to come will prove a crucial test for Europe and the world”.
What WHO Europe says
“As we address the virus as a public health emergency of international concern for the second time in two years, I want to convey some key messages on behalf of WHO Europe,” explains Kluge. The first is that Mpox is not Covid.We already know a lot about clade II. We still need to know more about clade I.“, he reasons. Based on what is known to date, “Mpox is transmitted primarily through skin-to-skin contact with lesions, including during sexual intercourse. This brings me to my second message: we know how to control it. Two years ago, we controlled Mpox in Europe through direct engagement with the most affected communities, men who have sex with men. We implemented robust surveillance; we thoroughly investigated new contact cases; and we provided strong public health advice. Behavior change, non-discriminatory public health action, and vaccination have helped control the epidemic,” Kluge recounts.
“Learning from this experience, we have urged governments and health authorities to support these measures, to help eliminate Mpox from Europe. But due to lack of commitment and lack of resources we have not been able to make the last mile. Today, we are seeing approximately 100 new cases of clade II Mpox in the European region every month.. However, the current state of alert due to clade I offers Europe the opportunity to refocus on clade II. To strengthen surveillance and diagnosis, to provide recommendations, including to travellers, based on science, not on fear, not through stigma and not through discrimination. And to procure vaccines and antivirals for those who may need them, based on strategic risk assessments”.
“In summary, Even as we strengthen vigilance against Mpox clade I, we can and should work to eliminate clade II in Europe once and for all“, is the call of Kluge who reiterates “the need for a coordinated response”, today “greater in the African region – he observes – The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention declared a continental emergency for Mpox shortly before the global declaration of the WHO. Europe must choose to act in solidarity. Solidarity with the people and communities affected by Mpox, working directly with them to take care of their health. And solidarity with the WHO African Region and its Member States affected” by the epidemic, “both at this critical moment and in the long term”.
In 2022, concludes the director of WHO Europe, “Mpox has shown us that it can spread rapidly across the world. We can and must tackle Mpox together, across all regions and continents. Will we choose to put in place systems to control and eliminate” the virus “globally? Or will we enter another cycle of panic and then negligence?”, asks Kluge, reiterating the importance of the test that awaits the European region and the rest of the world.
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