The WHO said Thursday it had observed a 21% reduction in new cases of monkeypox identified last week worldwide, with the start of a slowdown in the epidemic in Europe.
But the World Health Organization is far from happy with the situation, because it notes an “intense transmission” of the epidemic on the American continent.
“At the start of the epidemic, most of the reported cases were in Europe, and a smaller part in the Americas. This situation has now reversed, with less than 40% of cases reported in Europe and 60% in the Americas,” said WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press conference.
“In Latin America in particular, insufficient awareness or insufficient public health measures, combined with lack of access to vaccines, are fueling the epidemic,” he noted.
Previously limited to Central and West Africa, monkeypox has spread since May to other parts of the world including Europe and the United States, with a total of 44,464 cases recorded as of August 24 in the world, including 13 deaths, according to the latest WHO online report.
After four consecutive weeks of increases, the number of reported cases worldwide fell by 21% during August 15-21, compared to the previous week, according to the WHO’s weekly report on monkeypox. .
According to this report, in the past seven days, two countries reported their first cases: Iran and Indonesia.
“There are signs that the epidemic is slowing in Europe, where a combination of effective public health measures, behavioral changes and vaccination are helping to prevent transmission,” Dr Tedros explained.
On July 24, the WHO triggered the highest level of alert, the “public health emergency of international concern”, to strengthen the fight against the disease.
Bavarian Nordic, the Danish laboratory producing the only licensed vaccine against monkeypox, announced on Wednesday an agreement with the WHO to facilitate its distribution in countries in Latin America and the Caribbean.
“We thank Bavarian Nordic for this agreement, and we hope it will help bring the outbreak under control in the region,” Dr Tedros said on Thursday.
“WHO continues to encourage all countries to set up vaccine efficacy studies to ensure data collection while improving access” to doses, he said.
Marketed by Bavarian Nordic under the name Jynneos in North America and Imvanex in Europe, it is a vaccine against human smallpox, a deadly disease eradicated in 1980, which is currently used against monkeypox.