Mpox: a test for global equity and call for elimination in the European Region

Statement by WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge

Geneva, 20 August 2024

Good morning.

As we tackle mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern for the second time in two years, I want to convey three basic messages today on behalf of WHO/Europe.

Message one:

Mpox is not the ‘new COVID.’

Regardless of whether it’s mpox clade I, behind the ongoing outbreak in east-central Africa – or mpox clade II, behind the 2022 outbreak that initially impacted Europe – and has continued to circulate in Europe since.

We know quite a lot about clade II already. We still have to learn more about clade I.

Based on what we do know, mpox primarily transmits through skin-to-skin contact with mpox lesions, including during sex.

This leads me tomy second message:

We know how to control mpox and, in the European Region, the steps needed to eliminate its transmission altogether.

Two years ago, we controlled mpox in Europe thanks to the direct engagement with the most affected communities of men who have sex with men.

We put in place robust surveillance; we thoroughly investigated new cases contacts; and we provided sound public health advice.

Behaviour change, non-discriminatory public health action, and mpox vaccination contributed to controlling the outbreak.

Learning from our success, we urged governments and health authorities to sustain those measures – to help eliminate mpox from Europe.

But through a lack of commitment and a lack of resources we failed to go the last mile.

Today, we’re seeing about 100 new mpox clade II cases in the European Region every month.

However, the current state of alert due to clade I gives Europe the opportunity to refocus on clade II.

To strengthen mpox surveillance and diagnostics.

To issue public health advice, including to travellers, grounded in science – not in fear, not using stigma, and not through discrimination.

To procure vaccines and antivirals for those who may need them – based on strategic risk assessments.

In sum, even as we strengthen vigilance against mpox clade I, we can – and should – strive to eliminate clade II in Europe for once and for all.

And this brings me to my final message:

The need for a coordinated response is now greatest in the African Region.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared an mpox continental emergency shortly before WHO’s global declaration.

Europe must choose to act in solidarity.

Solidarity with individuals and communities impacted by mpox – by working directly with them to take charge of their own health.

And solidarity with the WHO African Region and its affected Member States – both at this critical time and in the long term.

In 2022 mpox showed us it can spread quickly around the world.

We can, and must, tackle mpox together – across regions and continents.

Will we choose to put the systems in place to control and eliminate mpox globally? Or will we enter another cycle of panic, then neglect?

How we respond now, and in the years to come, will prove a critical test for Europe – and the world.

Thank you.

ENDS

This statement was delivered to the UN Geneva Palais Briefing on 20 August 2024