Month: July 2022

GENEVA— There have been more than 18,000 cases of monkeypox reported globally from 78 countries, with the majority in Europe, the World Health Organization said.

The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Saturday.

Around 10 per cent of patients have been hospitalised in the current outbreak and five have died, all of them in Africa, the WHO said.

So far, 98 per cent of cases outside the countries in Africa where the virus is endemic have been reported in men who have sex with men, the WHO said.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus urged that group to consider reducing the numbers of new sexual partners and swapping contact details with any new partners.

“This is an outbreak that can be stopped … The best way to do that is to reduce the risk of exposure,” Tedros told a news conference. “That means making safe choices for yourself and others.”

Monkeypox is in the process of being renamed, to avoid the name being “weaponised” or used in a racist way, WHO emergencies director Mike Ryan said.

The UN agency is recommending vaccination for high-risk groups, including healthcare workers, and men who have sex with men with multiple sexual partners.

Tedros said there were about 16 million doses of approved vaccine available, but only in bulk, so it would take several months to get them into vials.

The WHO is urging countries with stockpiles to share vaccine while supply is constrained, he added. It estimates that between 5 million and 10 million doses of vaccine will be needed to protect all high-risk groups.

Meanwhile, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said that nearly 5,300 monkeypox cases have so far been reported across 18 countries and territories in the Americas, with the majority in the United States, Canada and Brazil.

PAHO’s deputy director Mary Lou Valdez told a press conference that almost all cases continue to be reported among men who have sex with men between the ages of 25 and 45, but warned that anyone can get the disease regardless of their gender or sexual orientation.

PAHO’s Interim Assistant Director Dr Marcos Espinal said that about 10 countries in the Americas have already said they were interested in purchasing a vaccine against monkeypox, but did not disclose which nations.

PAHO also disclosed it is “well advanced” in talks with a producer to buy third generation vaccines against the disease and that it expects some supply to arrive this year, though in limited amounts.

Even so, the organisation’s chief of infectious hazard management unit, Andrea Vicari, said the risk from monkeypox for the general population remained “very low” and that a mass vaccination campaign was not recommended at the moment.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

JUBA— The United Nations on Wednesday condemned clashes between rebel forces and the South Sudan People’s Defense Forces (SSPDF) in South Sudan’s northern oil-rich Unity State.

Nicholas Haysom, the special representative of the Secretary-General for South Sudan, called on the forces of Stephen Buay Rolnyang, the opposition leader and head of the South Sudan People’s Movement/Army, and SSPDF to immediately cease hostilities.

“Subnational violence has already had a devastating effect on communities. We appeal to all armed groups to put down their weapons and participate in peace efforts. This is the only way to break the cycles of violence and revenge killings, and pave the way for durable and sustainable peace,” Haysom said in a statement in Juba, the capital of South Sudan.

He stressed that the UN continues to closely monitor the situation in Mayom County and is supporting the peace process.

The UN official made the remarks after at least 12 soldiers, including James Chuol Gatluak, commissioner of Mayom County were killed and 13 others wounded in Mayom County of Unity State following clashes last week.

South Sudan descended into violence in December 2013 following a political dispute between President Salva Kiir and his then deputy Riek Machar, leading soldiers loyal to the respective leaders to fight.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands and displaced more than 2 million people both internally and externally.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

MONTREAL (Canada)— The global fight against HIV has stalled from shrinking resources due to COVID-19 and other crises, according to a new report presented at the International AIDS Conference in Montreal, Canada.

Across the world, new HIV infections fell just 3.6 per cent between 2020 and 2021, the smallest annual drop since 2016, said the UNAIDS report, titled In Danger.

About 1.5 million new infections occurred last year – more than a million over global targets of fighting the virus.

“The response to the AIDS pandemic has been derailed by global crises from the colliding pandemics of HIV and COVID, to the war in Ukraine and the resulting global economic crisis,” UNAIDS executive director Winnie Byanyima told reporters.

New infections climbed in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, the Middle East, North Africa and Latin America, in line with trends over several years.

Asia and the Pacific saw a slight rise, bucking previous declines.

Bright spots included western and central Africa – the latter driven largely by Nigeria – and the Caribbean.

“COVID-19 and other instabilities have disrupted health services in much of the world, and millions of students have been out of school, increasing their HIV vulnerability,” the report said.

Globally, 38.4 million people were living with HIV in 2021, with 650,000 deaths from AIDS-related illnesses.

Young women and adolescent girls were disproportionately impacted, with a new infection occurring in this population every two minutes.

Sub-Saharan Africa still accounts for the majority of new infections – 59 per cent in 2021 – but that proportion is decreasing as the decline in new cases slows in the rest of the world.

The report comes as high-income countries are cutting back aid.

In 2021, international resources available for HIV were six percent lower than in 2010, with bilateral assistance from the United States down 57 per cent over the past decade.

The UN says the HIV response in low- and middle-income countries is US$8 billion short of the amount needed by 2025.

Seventy per cent of cases globally were reported in key populations: Sex workers and their clients, men who have sex with men, people who inject drugs, and transgender people.

The report also called attention to racial inequality as an exacerbator of HIV risks.

In the United Kingdom and United States of America, Black people lag white people in declines in new infections. In Australia, Canada and the United States, HIV acquisition rates are higher in Indigenous communities.

The report also showed that access to life-saving treatments is faltering, growing by its slowest rate in over a decade.

Three-quarters of all people living with HIV had access to antiretroviral treatments, but 10 million people do not.

The rate of global new infections has declined since peaking in the mid-1990s, but there is far to go in order to achieve the global goal of ending AIDS by 2030.

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK

UNITED NATIONS— UN Secretary-General António Guterres has strongly condemned an attack on peacekeepers serving in the Stablization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) which took place during violent demonstrations at the mission’s base on Tuesday.

Two Indian police officers and a Moroccan ‘blue helmet’ were killed, and an Egyptian police officer injured.

According to news reports, at least 15 people died overall during a second day of protests in the restive North Kivu region, which began on Monday, with demonstrators accusing the United Nations of failing to do enough to stop a rise in deadly attacks by armed groups, some of which have been active in the area for decades.

Millions have been displaced by violence in recent years, with 97 civilians killed just last month alone in attacks across eastern DRC, that included abductions, looting and burning of homes, according to UN refugee agency UNHCR.

Several settlements for internally-displaced families have been attacked with more than 160,000 more displaced following a resurgence in activity by the brutal M23 rebel group in North Kivu.

Apart from the UN personnel who died during the violence, five civilians were reportedly killed in Goma, with around 50 others wounded, and seven died in demonstrations in Butembo.

“The Secretary-General expresses his deepest condolences to the families of the fallen peacekeepers, as well as to the Government and the people of India and of Morocco”, said a statement issued by Deputy Spokesperson Farhan Haq on Wednesday night in New York. “He wishes a speedy recovery to the injured peacekeeper.”

Guterres condemned the multiple attacks on UN bases across the region which began on Monday, “in which individuals and groups forcibly entered bases and engaged in looting and destruction of United Nations property, while also looting and setting fire to the residences of United Nations personnel.”

In a tweet, MONUSCO said on Wednesday that protesters had “violently snatched weapons” from Congolese police and fired at peacekeeping forces.

The UN chief said he regretted the loss of life among those demonstrating, and affirmed MONUSCO’s commitment to work with the Congolese Government to fully investigate the incidents.

He recalled the Status of Forces agreement between the UN and Congolese authorities, “which guarantees the inviolability of United Nations premises. He underscores that any attack directed against United Nations peacekeepers may constitute a war crime and calls upon the Congolese authorities to investigate these incidents and swiftly bring those responsible to justice.”

The Secretary-General welcomed a statement condemning the violence issued by a Government Spokesperson on Monday, which also indicated that prosecutions would be forthcoming.

“The Secretary-General reaffirms the United Nations’ strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, unity and territorial integrity of the Democratic Republic of Congo”, said Haq, adding that the head of MONUSCO and the mission overall, “will continue to support the Congolese Government and people in their efforts to bring about peace and stability in the east of the country.”

Source: NAM NEWS NETWORK