While cases of monkeypox are increasing rapidly in Europe and the United States, Alexandra Calmy, infectious disease specialist and head of the AIDS unit at HUG, called on Saturday in Forum for politicians to mobilize to fight against this epidemic.
Back from the World AIDS Congress held in Montreal, Alexandra Calmy called in Forum on the health authorities “to act and to act quickly” to fight against monkeypox “because the patients are there, with complications and pain and we have nothing really to offer them in terms of prevention”.
More than 26,000 cases were counted worldwide on Thursday. In Switzerland, just over 300 patients have been confirmed. The WHO triggered its highest level of alert, the public health emergency, at the end of July.
>> Lire: WHO raises its highest level of alert for monkeypox
Timid initial response
“To fight against an epidemic, we must act globally and equitably, without exclusion or discrimination”, she further noted. “Already for AIDS, mobilization has always been necessary to implement effective public health actions, it’s the same thing that happens with monkey pox because it is an epidemic that is much less spectacular than Covid “.
“The community needs to get involved and mobilize, we won’t get anything easily. We have experienced the same phenomenon with HIV,” said the doctor again.
“What is certain at the moment is that the initial response is rather timid, even a little hesitant, but what is important, and this is also a lesson of AIDS, is that the response to a an epidemic like monkeypox cannot only be medical, it must be social and political. It is this political response that we expect in Switzerland”
Interview by Esther Coquoz/lan