Media Home
UN Web TV
UN PhotoWHO / GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES
STORY: WHO / GLOBAL HEALTH ISSUES
TRT: 05:37
SOURCE: WHO
RESTRICTIONS: PLEASE CREDIT WHO ON SCREEN
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 07 AUGUST 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND / FILE
FILE - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
1. Wide shot, WHO HQ
07 AUGUST 2024, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
2. Wide shot, conference room
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“Since the beginning of this year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been experiencing a severe outbreak of mpox, with more than 14,000 reported cases and 511 deaths. Outbreaks of mpox have been reported in DRC for decades, and the number of cases reported each year has been increasing steadily. However, the number of cases reported in the first six months of this year match the number reported in all of last year, and the virus has spread to previously unaffected provinces.”
4. Wide shot, the panel of speakers
5. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“In the past month, about 50 confirmed and more suspected cases have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.”
6. Wide shot, conference room
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“WHO is working with the governments of the affected countries, the Africa CDC, NGOs, civil society, and other partners to understand and address the drivers of these outbreaks. Stopping transmission will require a comprehensive response, with communities at the centre. WHO has Standing Recommendations on mpox which include advice not to impose travel restrictions on affected countries.”
8. Wide shot, conference room
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“There are two vaccines for mpox that have been approved by WHO-listed national regulatory authorities, and which are recommended by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE. I have triggered the process for Emergency Use Listing of both vaccines, which will accelerate vaccine access particularly for lower-income countries, which have not yet issued their own national regulatory approval. Emergency Use Listing also enables partners including Gavi and UNICEF to procure vaccines for distribution.”
10. Wide shot, conference room
11. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“In light of the spread of mpox outside DRC, and the potential for further international spread within and outside Africa, I have decided to convene an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations to advise me on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. The committee will meet as soon as possible and will be made up of independent experts from a range of relevant disciplines from around the world.”
12. Wide shot, conference room
13. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Rosamund Lewis, Technical lead for mpox, WHO Health Emergencies Programme: “We are reviewing the risk assessment now to bring it up to date with the latest information and so that will be made available shortly in new communications. Having said that, we've already seen that the virus is now rapidly been documented in four new countries that had never reported before and we've also seen what can happen in the global outbreak that began in 2022, where many countries were affected in a very short period of time. So, we can't predict for sure what will happen, but we can anticipate that there are different scenarios and needs to be prepared for that risk.”
14. Wide shot, conference room
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Rosamund Lewis, Technical lead for mpox, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“The case fatality ratio overall in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is around 3.6%, higher in endemic areas, and especially in infants and young children, and lower in the eastern part of the country at the moment, where spread is more rapid through sexual transmission.
16. Wide shot, conference room
17. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme:
“The world needs to, in this case, as it did for Covid and in other diseases, come together to make sure that we're doing surveillance together, we're supporting communities together, we're providing good clinical care, that there's access to countermeasures, that the research and development agenda is advanced, that there's political commitment, that there's coordination and finally, and probably at this point, crucially, that there is financial commitment to stop this virus.”
18. Wide shot, conference room
19. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Director, Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, WHO:
“We're living in an interconnected world, and these pathogens do not respect borders. So I just want to get across the urgency that we're trying to say that the action is now, the time is now for us to take much more measures and provide much more support to the African region, to the countries that are affected across the entire spectrum, from surveillance to prevention to risk communication to clinical care, to infection prevention, control to R&D, to the use of vaccines, it's now.”
20. Wide shot, conference room
21. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“WHO is sending more than 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza, which will be administered in the coming weeks. The detection of polio in wastewater in Gaza is a tell-tale sign that the virus has been circulating in the community, putting unvaccinated children at risk. WHO is also supporting routine immunization and disease surveillance, including for polio. We need absolute freedom of movement for health workers and medical equipment to carry out these complex operations safely and effectively.”
22. Wide shot, conference room
23. SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General, World Health Organization (WHO):
“A ceasefire, or at least “days of tranquillity” during preparation and delivery of the vaccination campaigns are required to protect children in Gaza from polio.”
24. Wide shot, conference room
In response to the spread of mpox beyond the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the risk of further international transmission within and outside Africa, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced today (7 Aug) that the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations will be convened. The committee will advise him on whether the outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, according to WHO.
Dr Tedros said, “Since the beginning of this year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been experiencing a severe outbreak of mpox, with more than 14,000 reported cases and 511 deaths. Outbreaks of mpox have been reported in DRC for decades, and the number of cases reported each year has been increasing steadily. However, the number of cases reported in the first six months of this year match the number reported in all of last year, and the virus has spread to previously unaffected provinces.”
He also said, “in the past month, about 50 confirmed and more suspected cases have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.”
The Director-General also said, “WHO is working with the governments of the affected countries, the Africa CDC, NGOs, civil society, and other partners to understand and address the drivers of these outbreaks. Stopping transmission will require a comprehensive response, with communities at the centre. WHO has Standing Recommendations on mpox which include advice not to impose travel restrictions on affected countries.”
Dr Tedros continued, “there are two vaccines for mpox that have been approved by WHO-listed national regulatory authorities, and which are recommended by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE. I have triggered the process for Emergency Use Listing of both vaccines, which will accelerate vaccine access particularly for lower-income countries, which have not yet issued their own national regulatory approval. Emergency Use Listing also enables partners including Gavi and UNICEF to procure vaccines for distribution.”
He announced, “in light of the spread of mpox outside DRC, and the potential for further international spread within and outside Africa, I have decided to convene an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations to advise me on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. The committee will meet as soon as possible and will be made up of independent experts from a range of relevant disciplines from around the world.”
Dr Rosamund Lewis, Technical lead for mpox, WHO Health Emergencies Programme said, “we are reviewing the risk assessment now to bring it up to date with the latest information and so that will be made available shortly in new communications. Having said that, we've already seen that the virus is now rapidly been documented in four new countries that had never reported before and we've also seen what can happen in the global outbreak that began in 2022, where many countries were affected in a very short period of time. So, we can't predict for sure what will happen, but we can anticipate that there are different scenarios and needs to be prepared for that risk.”
She added that, “the case fatality ratio overall in the Democratic Republic of the Congo is around 3.6 percent, higher in endemic areas, and especially in infants and young children, and lower in the eastern part of the country at the moment, where spread is more rapid through sexual transmission.”
Dr Michael Ryan, Executive Director, WHO Health Emergencies Programme said,
“The world needs to, in this case, as it did for Covid and in other diseases, come together to make sure that we're doing surveillance together, we're supporting communities together, we're providing good clinical care, that there's access to countermeasures, that the research and development agenda is advanced, that there's political commitment, that there's coordination and finally, and probably at this point, crucially, that there is financial commitment to stop this virus.”
Dr Maria Van Kerkhove, Director (a.i.) Epidemic and Pandemic Preparedness and Prevention, WHO said “We're living in an interconnected world, and these pathogens do not respect borders. So I just want to get across the urgency that we're trying to say that the action is now, the time is now for us to take much more measures and provide much more support to the African region, to the countries that are affected across the entire spectrum, from surveillance to prevention to risk communication to clinical care, to infection prevention, control to R&D, to the use of vaccines, it's now.”
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General then commented on health risks in Gaza, saying, “WHO is sending more than 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza, which will be administered in the coming weeks. The detection of polio in wastewater in Gaza is a tell-tale sign that the virus has been circulating in the community, putting unvaccinated children at risk. WHO is also supporting routine immunization and disease surveillance, including for polio. We need absolute freedom of movement for health workers and medical equipment to carry out these complex operations safely and effectively.”
Closing the press-conference WHO Director-General said, “A ceasefire, or at least “days of tranquillity” during preparation and delivery of the vaccination campaigns are required to protect children in Gaza from polio.”
Download
There is no media available to download.
