The World Health Organization provides courses of action to curb the monkeypox epidemic, the scale of which is unprecedented in Europe in the spring of 2022.
Europe is at the epicenter of the monkeypox epidemic, as it is the region “ largest and largest geographically to have been reported outside endemic areas of West and Central Africa. This is what the World Health Organization (WHO) recalls in a press release sent to the press on Tuesday, May 31, 2022.
In the same document, the WHO indicates that the risk of an increase in transmission during the summer is particularly high. At this stage, however, we are still far from a pandemic, and monkeypox is very different from covid, which will not, at this stage, require restrictive measures as the population experienced in 2020 and 2021.
But the evolution of this virus is still uncertain. To contain its spread, we need a significant and urgent reduction in exposures through clear communication, joint action, isolation of cases during the infectious period, and effective contact tracing and surveillance “, explains the WHO.
The WHO monkeypox roadmap
To contain the spread of monkeypox as soon as possible and as well as possible, the WHO has drawn up a list of 7 courses of action:
- Actively engage community groups and leaders as well as civil society organizations to raise awareness » and to « share information on how to reduce the risk of exposure, ” in particular by reducing the number of their sexual partners “.
- Encourage people — “ including young people, regardless of gender, orientation or sexual activity — learn about monkeypox and what to do if they think they’ve been exposed to the disease or show signs of it.
- Support organizers and communities participating in upcoming mass gatherings in Europe” to leverage these events to share accurate, practical and targeted information with attendees “.
- Equip health establishments and public health teams with the knowledge » and « diagnostic capabilities they need to quickly identify, investigate and confirm cases.
- Ensure that patients with monkeypox are instructed to self-isolate during the infectious period of their illness, to abstain from sexual and other close contact with other people, and that they are supported during their isolation.
- Promptly trace all contacts of cases and monitor their absence of any relevant disease” for 21 days “. If quarantining contacts “ is not necessarily necessary “according to the WHO, twice-daily temperature checks and self-monitoring” are essential “.
- Use the ” currently available medical countermeasures” in a “fair and equitable manner », depending on the level of risk, the availability and the relevance of the intervention. ” We cannot allow the ugly competition for limited resources to replicate the early days of the covid pandemic. “Worries the WHO.
For the WHO, the implementation of these courses of action could ” demystify » this disease still little known in the West by countering the misinformation that already abounds on the web.
On the same note, this will avoid any stigmatization of specific groups of people. In terms of public health, this will serve to “ accelerate actions by regions, countries and communities to stop the spread » by accelerating the delivery of diagnostics, vaccines, antivirals and other equipment.