| No images? Click here  Wednesday, 07 August 2024 WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 7 August 2024 Good morning, good afternoon and good evening, Today the WHO family is in mourning over the sudden passing of our dear friend and colleague, Aidan O’Leary, the Director of the WHO Polio Eradication Programme. Aidan died suddenly last night from natural causes while on holiday with his family. He was an outstanding humanitarian who served tirelessly in the most difficult parts of the world. He joined WHO in 2020, after a career of service in the United Nations in some of the world’s most difficult places, including Afghanistan, Gaza, Iraq, Syria, Pakistan and Yemen. He embodied the ideal of service and solidarity across peoples and borders. His passing is a terrible loss for WHO and for all of humanity, but most of all for his family and friends, in his native Ireland and throughout the world. On behalf of WHO, I extend my deepest condolences to them all. We will miss Aidan enormously, and we will remember him for his kindness, openness and friendliness. He was a gentle giant, in every sense. We are committed to continuing his legacy to realise his vision - and ours - of a polio-free world. Rest in peace, my dear friend. As the Irish say, Ar dheis dé go raibh a anam dilis. === One of the last things Aidan was working on was preparations for two rounds of polio vaccination campaigns in Gaza, targeting 600 000 children under the age of 8. WHO is sending more than 1 million polio vaccines to Gaza, which will be administered in the coming weeks. The detection of polio in wastewater in Gaza is a tell-tale sign that the virus has been circulating in the community, putting unvaccinated children at risk. WHO is also supporting routine immunization and disease surveillance, including for polio. We need absolute freedom of movement for health workers and medical equipment to carry out these complex operations safely and effectively. A ceasefire, or at least “days of tranquility” during preparation and delivery of the vaccination campaigns are required to protect children in Gaza from polio. === Since the beginning of this year, the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been experiencing a severe outbreak of Mpox, with more than 14 000 reported cases and 511 deaths. Outbreaks of Mpox have been reported in DRC for decades, and the number of cases reported each year has been increasing steadily. However, the number of cases reported in the first six months of this year match the number reported in all of last year, and the virus has spread to previously unaffected provinces. In the past month, about 50 confirmed and more suspected cases have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Mpox outbreaks are caused by different viruses called clades. Clade 1 has been circulating in the DRC for years, while clade 2 was responsible for the global outbreak which began in 2022. The current outbreak in the Eastern DRC is caused by a new offshoot of clade 1, called clade 1b, which causes more severe disease than clade 2. Clade 1b has been confirmed in Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, while the clade in Burundi is still being analysed. At the same time, cases of clade 1a have been reported this year in DRC, the Central African Republic and the Republic of Congo, while clade 2 has been reported in Cameroon, Côte d’Ivoire, Liberia, Nigeria and South Africa. WHO is working with the governments of the affected countries, the Africa CDC, NGOs, civil society and other partners to understand and address the drivers of these outbreaks. Stopping transmission will require a comprehensive response, with communities at the centre. WHO has Standing Recommendations on mpox which include advice not to impose travel restrictions on affected countries. WHO has developed a regional response plan, requiring US$ 15 million to support surveillance, preparedness and response activities. We have released US$ 1 million from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies to support scale-up of the response, and we plan to release more in the coming days. There are two vaccines for mpox that have been approved by WHO-listed national regulatory authorities, and which are recommended by WHO’s Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, or SAGE. I have triggered the process for Emergency Use Listing of both vaccines, which will accelerate vaccine access particularly for lower-income countries, which have not yet issued their own national regulatory approval. Emergency Use Listing also enables partners including Gavi and UNICEF to procure vaccines for distribution. WHO is grateful to Japan, the United States, the European Union and manufacturers for working with us on vaccine donations. We are working with all partners through the interim Medical Countermeasures Network to facilitate equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics, diagnostics and other tools. In light of the spread of Mpox outside DRC, and the potential for further international spread within and outside Africa, I have decided to convene an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations to advise me on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern. The committee will meet as soon as possible and will be made up of independent experts from a range of relevant disciplines from around the world. === Finally, last week, I had the honour of attending the Olympic Games in Paris. As I joined fans from around the world in full stadiums, I was reminded of how far the world has come since the last Games in Tokyo, when stadiums were empty because of the COVID-19 pandemic. While COVID-19 is no longer an international health emergency, these Games are taking place against the backdrop of many other crises in our world, including conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine and Sudan, with the risk of a wider conflict in the Middle East. The Olympic Games won’t make the problems of our world go away, but they are a source of joy, hope and light in an often dark and divided world. They remind us that we are one humanity, and that our commonalities are greater than our differences. The Olympic Games are more than a sporting contest. They’re an expression of what it means to be human, and a glimpse of what our world could look like when we come together in friendship. In the words of the Olympic Charter, the Games are about putting sport at the service of our harmonious development, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity. When the Olympic flame is extinguished in Paris this Sunday, may it continue to shine as a beacon of hope for a more peaceful world. Tarik, back to you.  Media contacts:  You are receiving this NO-REPLY email because you are included on a WHO mail list.  |
Wednesday, August 7, 2024
WHO Director-General's opening remarks at the media briefing – 7 August 2024
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