WHO/Europe Health Emergencies Newsletter - Issue No.40: 05.09.2024
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Health Emergencies Newsletter
Issue No.40
05.09.2024
Including stories on: the announcement of a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for mpox, a new report on lives saved by COVID-19 vaccination, advice for pregnant women on managing the high temperatures in the region, and on World Humanitarian Day, a celebration of the work of health humanitarians.
TOP STORY
14 August: WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has determined that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).
Dr Tedros’s declaration came on the advice of an IHR Emergency Committee of independent experts who met earlier in the day to review data presented by experts from WHO and affected countries. The Committee informed the Director-General that it considers the upsurge of mpox to be a PHEIC, with potential to spread further across countries in Africa and possibly outside the continent.
MPOX
20 August 2024: Statement by WHO Regional Director for Europe, Dr Hans Henri P. Kluge.
"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."
30 August: Dr Hans Kluge and Professor Peter Piot write for Euroactiv media network:
"The current global mpox public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, is yet another reminder that neglecting a public health emergency in one part of the world can, and does, have consequences for everyone.
It is also a reminder of how quickly collective amnesia sets in when it comes to acting upon the painful lessons of the past, including smallpox, HIV/AIDS, Ebola, and the COVID-19 pandemic."
19 August: On World Humanitarian Day, attacks in Ukraine reached a grim milestone – 1940 WHO-confirmed attacks on health care. This is the highest number WHO has ever recorded in any humanitarian emergency globally to date.
19 August: On the 8th of July, the Okhmatdyt hospital, the largest children’s hospital in Ukraine, was severely damaged amid the ongoing war. Since then, WHO and health partners have supported the evacuation of 16 of their patients to Germany, Austria and Switzerland, where they can now continue their life-saving treatment for cancer and other conditions.
We demand an end to these violations and the impunity with which they are committed, and that healthcare services and humanitarian work be actively protected, to ensure the establishment of safe working space for the delivery of healthcare, and equitable, safe access to healthcare services, free from violence, threat, or fear.
30 August: Artesans-ResQ has been collaborating closely with WHO under a European Union (EU)-funded project, with the Medical Evacuation (Medevac) Coordination Unit of the Ukrainian Ministry of Health, and with the national Emergency Medical Services (EMS). Together they are building country capacity at each stage of critical-care transfer, from patient preparation to in-transit care to handover at the receiving health facility.
The organization has played a crucial role in the development of medevac processes, especially for intensive-care patients and paediatric/neonatal patients. They are also coordinating intensively with other partner organizations and the Ukrainian centres for emergency medical care and disaster medicine to ensure that each patient is matched with the right mode of transport and the correct level of expertise to support them.
COVID-19 AND RESPIRATORY VIRUSES
02 August: From the time of their introduction in December 2020 through to March 2023, COVID-19 vaccines reduced deaths due to the pandemic by at least 59%, saving more than 1.6 million lives in the WHO European Region.
These are among the findings of a new WHO/Europe study published in The Lancet Respiratory Medicine. It reveals that today’s known COVID-19 death toll in the Region, currently at 2.2 million, might have been as high as 4 million without the vaccines. Most of those saved were aged 60 or older, the group at highest risk of severe illness and death from SARS-CoV-2.
22 August: With the pandemic seemingly fading from memory – including that of WHO Member States across Europe and central Asia – we must remember that partnerships and collaboration are more crucial than ever. They help us to address the health emergencies we are facing now, and to better prepare for those that lie ahead, arriving faster than ever before.
A standout example of such collaboration is the trusted and reliable partnership between WHO/Europe and the European Union (EU), driven by our shared commitment to protecting the health and well-being of all people in this region.
CLIMATE EMERGENCY
09 August: Türkiye, one of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region, has been battling a series of devastating wildfires. Driven by extreme weather conditions, including high temperatures and strong winds, the fires have caused widespread damage and led to people evacuating their homes.
Since the beginning of June 2024, Türkiye’s National Medical Rescue Team (UMKE) has been supporting those affected by the fires in many provinces, with the main efforts focused on Adıyaman, Antalya and Izmir.
09 August: In Europe, climate change is raising temperatures faster than in any other region of the world, posing risks to groups such as the elderly and those with chronic health conditions. Depending on the frequency, intensity and duration of the heat, pregnant women and their babies can also be affected, particularly if they are socioeconomically vulnerable. How can pregnant women look after themselves during hot weather?
20 August: In tropical and subtropical countries, the virus causing dengue is spiking. Close to an historic high of over 6 million cases and more than 7,000 dengue-related deaths were reported in over 80 countries and territories in 2023. Most places in Europe remain too cool to favour the mosquito or the virus, but imported dengue cases have been rising in the European region and the impact of climate change appears to be shifting the picture.
EMERGENCY PREPAREDNESS
19 August: On World Humanitarian Day, 19 August, we honour the dedication of individuals and organizations working tirelessly to alleviate suffering and save lives in the face of crises often overlapping and arriving faster than before. Attacks on humanitarian workers and humanitarian assets must stop, as must attacks on civilians and civilian infrastructure, in any and all contexts. Health emergency and humanitarian response should be actively protected, as per international humanitarian law. On this World Humanitarian Day, we demand an end to these violations and the impunity with which they are committed.
21 August: For the second year running, a group of laboratory leaders in Kazakhstan completed the Global Laboratory Leadership Programme (GLLP), which WHO first piloted in the country in 2021.
The GLLP aims to mentor current and emerging laboratory leaders in Kazakhstan to build, strengthen and sustain national laboratory systems to effectively play a critical role in the prevention, detection and control of diseases. It targets human and animal health laboratories, as well as environmental, agricultural, food or chemical laboratories, and those with a public health impact.
WHO PUBLICATIONS
COVID-19
Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 - 13 August 2024
MPOX (MONKEYPOX)
Joint ECDC/ WHO mpox surveillance bulletin- July 2024
Multi-country outbreak of mpox, External situation report#35- 12 August 2024
UKRAINE EMERGENCY
War in Ukraine: situation report from WHO Country Office in Ukraine: issue No. 76, 21 June 2024
(Last updated on 06.09.2024 to correct an editing error)
