- WHO urges EU to share pox vaccines with Africa
- Over 17,000 Mpox cases reported in Africa
- Vigilance and global cooperation stressed by WHO
Doctor Hans Kluge, the World Health Organization’s Europe director, has asked EU countries to heed the lessons of COVID-19 and share pox vaccines with Africa to safeguard people worldwide.
The World Health Organization’s Europe head has stated that surveillance and the distribution of pox vaccines to Africa will be critical in preventing a global breakout of the virus.
The WHO declared Mpox a worldwide emergency this week, with a new strain spreading rapidly across Africa and causing more than 571 fatalities this year.
Doctor Hans Kluge stated that, while “there’s no need to panic,” people “always need to be vigilant” to ensure that the world does not face another global health crisis just years after COVID-19 brought it to a halt.
The essential message I conveyed to the governments was surveillance, according to WHO’s Europe director.
Good monitoring means knowing what’s going on because you never know how a virus will behave in the future.
Dr. Kluge expressed concern for the African region and the proliferation of cases, noting that over 17,000 cases had already been reported on the continent this year.
He urged European countries to transfer vaccines to Africa and “not sit” on them to avoid another worldwide pandemic.
This is the big test,” he explained. Just to test if the world community learnt from COVID-19 or not. Are we going to suspend or share the vaccines?
When asked about new measures such as airport inspections, Dr Kluge stated that persons “may come easily into the country without any obvious symptoms”.
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According to the UK government’s website, the incubation period for mpox ranges from five to 21 days. People normally recover from the “self-limiting” sickness in a few weeks, it said.
Dr. Kluge went on to say, “We must also be careful not to push them away because, as we witnessed [during] COVID, they will seek alternative avenues.
“So the key for now in Europe is good surveillance, particularly in high-risk groups.”
The disease is transmitted through close contact with infected people, including intercourse and other skin-to-skin contact.
The latest outbreak in Africa began with the spread of the endemic strain known as Clade 1.
The newly identified form, known as Clade 1b, appears to spread more quickly through intimate contact, particularly among children.
Dr Kluge emphasised that “there are many unknowns” about mpox, particularly its transmissibility.
He stated that, while “this is not a COVID-19,” governments throughout the world must continue to monitor the situation because viruses can always behave “unexpectedly.
