After several months of the epidemic, we are beginning to learn more about the modes of transmission of monkeypox with confirmation: the current contaminations are mainly linked to sexual relations between adult men. “There is a need for a national campaign who puts the package on the subject”, claims Matthieu Gatipon-Bachette, president of the LGBT association Couleurs Gaies and spokesperson for Inter-LGB, Wednesday August 10 on franceinfo. He believes that we “doesn’t talk enough” of the epidemic which, three months after its start, affects nearly 28,000 people worldwide (2,171 recorded in France on August 2) and claimed its first victims in West Africa and Spain.
“What we are asking the government to do is put in the maximum resources,” Explain Matthew Gatipon Bachette.
“Increased prevention is needed among exposed people to have a reduction in diagnosis time and better follow-up of patients.”
Matthieu Gatipon-Bachette, spokesperson for Inter-LGBat franceinfo
Many voices within the LGBTQIA+ community are calling for an acceleration of the vaccination campaign, which is still considered too timid. Since August 10, five pharmacies have been authorized to vaccinate in France, dthem in Paris, one in Fréjus, one in Marseille and one in Lille. The injections are offered to those most at risk, that is to say to homosexuals who have several partners and to sex workers.
The president of the association Couleur Gaies wants “a government that is really on the move” on this subject, in the context of “upsurge in hate speech [envers les populations LGBTQIA+]especially on social media. This must also “Getting the public authorities to mobilize against LGBT hatred is fundamental”he assures.
In recent weeks, three studies have drawn a clinical picture of the current epidemic, even if they are only early works and carried out from a few hundred cases. They confirm that men having homosexual relations represent almost all patients.