, Acting WHO Representative in Vietnam (Photo: VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – The World Health Organisation (WHO)
will continue to share information with Vietnam on developments of monkeypox
and support the country in the prevention and control of the disease, Dr.
Socorro Escalante, told the media on July
26.
The WHO representative noted that after considering the emerging
epidemiological trends and the transmission of the disease among countries, on
July 23, WHO Director-General Adhanom Ghebreyesus decided to declare monkeypox
as a global health emergency.
Between January 1 and July 20, the world recorded nearly
15,000 cases of in 72 countries and territories and in all six
regions worldwide. This is a significant increase from more than 3,000 cases at the beginning of May 2022, causing global
concern, she said.
Escalante said that WHO has assisted the Ministry of Health of Vietnam in building
temporary expertise guidelines in the field of laboratory monitoring and
testing, including activities to strengthen the capacity of supervision and
testing systems, as well as in conducting activities related to temporarily
rapid response, clinical management, infection control for monkeypox.
WHO has also helped Vietnam in popularising the risk of monkeypox outbreak,
as well as guided the country in vaccination.
The WHO will provide Vietnam with updated instructions
and national interim guidelines depending on the development of the disease, while
providing testing bio-products to public health facilities and hospital systems
nationwide, she said.
Between January 1 and July 20, the world recorded nearly 15,000 cases of monkeypox in 72 countries and territories and in all six regions worldwide. (Photo: Reuters/VNA)According to the representative, WHO has designed
scenarios that countries may face, and classified the scenarios following
groups of countries depending on the real situation.
For countries that have yet to record any monkeypox case like Vietnam, WHO has
given some temporary recommendations regarding responding measures, including activating the inter-sectoral
coordination mechanism to enhance readiness to
respond to monkeypox, and prevent it from spreading. The operation of the
Public Health Emergency Response Centre under the Ministry of Health needs to
be activated, when necessary, with the participation of inter-agency, she
stated.
Escalante underlined the need to strengthen the monitoring system as well as the laboratory diagnostic capabilities, including
testing and sample transport procedures, along with risk communications and the
updating of guidelines in managing clinical cases. She also pointed to the necessity
to raise public awareness of the transmission of monkeypox to take measures to
protect the community, identify signs and symptoms in high-risk communities.
Along with enhancing the disease supervision system, WHO
recommended that Vietnam actively update and share information for local
residents on disease prevention measures as well as ways to protect themselves in
case monkeypox may enter Vietnam.
The WHO representative also recommended that there is no need to apply restriction
measures related to international travel of specific groups or the general
population. WHO encourages countries to adhere to interim recommendations,
she stressed.
She added that currently, WHO does not recommend mass vaccination against
monkeypox./.
Source: VietnamPlus
