Video Player is loading.
Advertisement
Current Time 0:00
Duration 0:00
Loaded: 0%
Stream Type LIVE
Remaining Time 0:00
1x
    • Chapters
    • descriptions off, selected
    • captions off, selected
        Mpox preparedness update - WHO 20 August 2024
        /
        2:39
        /
        MP4
        /
        197.1 MB
        Transcripts
        Download

        Edited News | WHO

        Mpox preparedness update - WHO 20 August 2024

        Europe can defeat mpox and must support Africa in vaccine access, says UN health agency

        Mpox is “not the ‘new COVID’” and European governments need to show strong political commitment to eliminate it, while standing in solidarity with Africa, a top official of the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

        Briefing journalists in Geneva, Dr. Hans Kluge, WHO Regional Director for Europe, insisted that the risk from mpox to the general population was “low”.

        He rejected comparisons between the fast-spreading viral disease which the agency determined to be an international public health emergency last week, and the COVID-19 pandemic, “regardless of whether it’s mpox clade 1, behind the ongoing outbreak in east-central Africa, or mpox clade 2, behind the 2022 outbreak that initially impacted Europe and has continued to circulate in Europe since”.

        “We know how to control mpox - and in the European region - the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether,” Dr. Kluge continued.

        Current scientific knowledge indicates that the disease primarily transmits through skin-to-skin contact with mpox lesions, including during sex. The UN health agency official’s reply to questions about whether Europe would experience COVID-like lockdowns was an unequivocal “no”.

        Speaking via video link from Copenhagen, Dr. Kluge recalled that the 2022 European mpox outbreak was brought under control “thanks to the direct engagement with the most affected communities of men who have sex with men”.

        He cited “behaviour change, non-discriminatory public health action and mpox vaccination” as factors of success in Europe in 2022. However, the region “failed to go the last mile” to quash the disease and is currently seeing some 100 new mpox clade 2 cases every month, he said.

        Last week, Sweden became the first country outside Africa to record a case of the mpox clade 1 variant at the centre of the latest outbreak, which has been spreading from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to neighbouring countries. The Swedish case concerned a person who had travelled to an affected area of Africa.

        The current state of alert due to clade 1, which is considered to be more severe, gives European health authorities the opportunity to also strengthen focus on clade 2 and eliminate it “once and for all,” Dr. Kluge urged.

        The UN health agency representative called specifically for European solidarity with Africa, notably regarding equitable access to vaccines.

        WHO recommends the use of MVA-BN or LC16 vaccines, or the ACAM2000 vaccine when the others are not available. These have originally been developed against the now-eradicated disease smallpox.

        WHO spokesperson Tarik Jašarević said that the producer of MVA-BN, Bavarian Nordic, “has capacity to manufacture 10 million doses by end of 2025 and can already supply up to two million doses this year”. As for LC16, which is a vaccine produced on behalf of the Government of Japan, he underscored that there is a “considerable” stockpile of this vaccine.

        “Japan has been very generous in the past with donations” and is currently in negotiations with the DRC Government, he said.

        The DRC has reported more than 15,600 mpox cases so far this year and some 540 deaths.

        Last week, WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus triggered an “Emergency Use Listing” process for mpox vaccines, designed to accelerate access for lower-income countries which have not yet issued their own regulatory approval. The measure also makes it possible for UN health agency partners such as Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance and the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) to procure vaccines for distribution.

        Dr. Kluge mentioned that the European Union (EU) is already donating vaccines, which made him “optimistic”, but that this generosity will be put to the test if more vaccines are needed in the EU.

        And although vaccines are essential, they are “just some of the tools,” said WHO’s Mr. Jašarević, alongside contact tracing, strong surveillance, public health measures and adequate clinical care for those who need it. He mentioned that a positive legacy of the COVID-19 response was improved laboratory capacity around the world allowing to better detect various viruses.

        Building on health lessons from the recent pandemic, global coordination will be key to defeating mpox. “We can, and must, tackle mpox together – across regions and continents,” Dr. Kluge insisted. “Will we choose to put the systems in place to control and eliminate mpox globally? Or will we enter another cycle of panic and then neglect?”

        “How we respond now, and in the years to come, will prove a critical test for Europe – and the world,” Dr. Kluge concluded.

        -Ends -


        Audio Files 1
        Download Mpox preparedness update - WHO 20 August 2024 (Edited Story)
        Download

        Similar Stories

        Gaza health update - UNRWA - OCHA - WHO

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | UNRWA , OCHA , WHO

        Gaza health update - UNRWA - OCHA - WHO ENG FRA

        UN life-saving aid allowed to trickle into Gaza as civilian needs mount

        Amid calls for more humanitarian trucks to enter the food and medicine-deprived Palestinian enclave of Gaza, UN humanitarians have received permission from Israel for “around 100” more aid trucks to cross into the Strip after only five were let in yesterday,  But the scale of relief efforts allowed remains entirely insufficient to meet the urgent needs of people there, humanitarian workers say.

        Press vests becoming a target - war reporter Christina Assi

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News

        Press vests becoming a target - war reporter Christina Assi ENG FRA

        A war reporter from Lebanon who lost a limb in the line of duty is calling for an end to impunity for attacks against journalists.

        ITU 160th Anniversary - 17 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | ITU

        ITU 160th Anniversary - 17 May 2025 ENG FRA

        The International Telecommunication Union (ITU) commemorated 160 years dedicated to connecting the world on Saturday, 17 May in Geneva, Switzerland, during the annual World Telecommunication and Information Society Day.

        Gaza humanitarian update – WHO, OCHA 16 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WHO , OCHA

        Gaza humanitarian update – WHO, OCHA 16 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Gazans ‘in terror’ after another night of deadly strikes and siege

        Amid reports that Israeli strikes across Gaza into Friday killed at least 64 people, aid teams once again pushed back strongly at allegations that aid is being diverted to Hamas and pleaded for the blockade to end.

        UN Human Rights raises human rights concerns about deportations from the United States of America

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OHCHR , UNOG

        UN Human Rights raises human rights concerns about deportations from the United States of America ENG FRA

        Deportations over recent months of large numbers of non-nationals from the United States of America, especially to countries other than those of their origin, raise a number of human rights concerns, the UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk warned on Tuesday.   

        Gaza health update - WHO

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WHO

        Gaza health update - WHO ENG FRA

        Gaza: Over 50 child malnutrition deaths amid aid blockade; entire generation will be ‘permanently affected’ - WHO

        In the aid desert of Gaza, malnourished children are dying while survivors can expect a lifetime of dire health problems, the UN World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

        Gaza aid update - UNICEF, UNRWA, WHO 09 May 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WHO , UNICEF , UNRWA

        Gaza aid update - UNICEF, UNRWA, WHO 09 May 2025 ENG FRA

        Israel’s aid plan will force Gaza families to choose ‘between displacement and death’ – UN humanitarians

        Israel’s plan to take control of relief assistance in Gaza risks increasing the suffering of families already exhausted by 18 months of war by putting their lives in danger and inciting more displacement, using aid as “bait”, UN humanitarians said on Friday.

        Gaza humanitarian blockade  OCHA - WHO

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | OCHA , WHO

        Gaza humanitarian blockade OCHA - WHO ENG FRA

        UN Humanitarians reject Israeli plan to take over aid delivery

        The reported Israeli proposal to deliver humanitarian supplies through hubs controlled by the military would be a breach of the core principles of neutral, impartial and independent aid delivery, the UN aid coordination office, OCHA, said on Tuesday.

         

        Gaza two months blockade - OCHA 02 MAY 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News , B-roll | OCHA

        Gaza two months blockade - OCHA 02 MAY 2025 ENG FRA

        Gaza: ‘Worst-case scenario’ unfolds as two-month aid blockade deepens suffering - OCHA

        Two months into a devastating aid blockade of Gaza food has run out and people are fighting over water amid relentless bombing, the UN’s humanitarian affairs coordination office (OCHA) said on Friday.

        /Includes OCHA footage from Gaza City/

        Gaza humanitarian update - UNRWA

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | UNRWA

        Gaza humanitarian update - UNRWA ENG FRA

        Children in Gaza are going to bed starving, says aid agency
        The biggest UN aid agency in Gaza on Tuesday condemned the two-month Israeli blockade on Gaza that has left families sharing a single tin of food at mealtime and the sick and injured without lifesaving medical help, amid daily bombardment.

        Ukraine attacks - UNHCR 25 April 2025

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | UNHCR

        Ukraine attacks - UNHCR 25 April 2025 ENG FRA

        Ongoing Russian attacks in Ukraine force frontline areas to empty: UNHCR

        With Ukrainian cities still reeling from this week’s deadly Russian missile and drone attacks, communities on the front line continue to be targeted too, the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, said on Friday. “We also see attacks on frontline regions increasing and it's, as always, civilians that are bearing the highest cost of the war,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing, UNHCR Representative in Ukraine. 

         

        Ethiopia update - WFP

        1

        1

        1

        Edited News | WFP

        Ethiopia update - WFP ENG FRA

        Funding and supply shortfalls for the UN World Food Programme (WFP)'s work in Ethiopia will halt lifesaving treatment for 650,000 malnourished women and children at the end of the month. “We are at the breaking point,” it said on Tuesday.