Thread by @WHO

LIVE: Media briefing on global health issues with @DrTedros twitter.com/i/broadcasts/1…

@DrTedros "First to #Uganda, where WHO is continuing to support the government to respond to an outbreak of #Ebola disease in five districts. So far, there are 54 confirmed and 20 probable cases, with 39 deaths, and 14 people have recovered"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "Over 660 contacts are currently under active follow-up. Our primary focus now is to support the Government of #Uganda to rapidly control & contain this #Ebola outbreak, to stop it spreading to neighbouring districts, & neighbouring countries"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1580193241190010882?s=20&t=JIOtPdE8ZiQFcY0hy63Bfw

@DrTedros "Now to #Haiti, where we are deeply concerned about the outbreak of #cholera in the capital Port au Prince and surrounding areas. According to the Ministry of Public Health and Population, as of last Saturday there were 224 suspected cases of cholera and 16 deaths"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "One quarter of suspected #cholera cases are among children aged under five years. On Sunday, the ministry also confirmed a cholera outbreak in the National Penitentiary of Port-au-Prince, with 39 suspected cases and nine deaths"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1580193652990582784?s=20&t=JIOtPdE8ZiQFcY0hy63Bfw

@DrTedros "The situation is evolving rapidly, & it is possible that earlier or additional [#cholera] cases haven't been detected. The surveillance mechanism set up by the Haitian Government, with the support of WHO & partners, is operating under extremely difficult circumstances"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "The affected areas are very insecure, which makes it very difficult to collect samples, and delays laboratory confirmation of #cholera cases and deaths"-@DrTedros #Haiti

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1580193969236889600?s=20&t=JIOtPdE8ZiQFcY0hy63Bfw

@DrTedros "In addition, fuel shortages are making it harder for #healthworkers to get to work, causing health facilities to close and disrupting access to health services for people who live in some of the most deprived communities"-@DrTedros #cholera #Haiti

@DrTedros "WHO is working with the Ministry of Health & partners to coordinate the response, incl for surveillance, case management, water & sanitation, vaccination & community engagement. To bring this #cholera outbreak under control, we need secure access to the affected areas"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "Last week, I said that many more people than died in the floods could die from disease in the coming weeks & months. There is now a malaria outbreak in 32 districts, while the incidence of cholera, dengue, measles & diphtheria is also increasing"-@DrTedros #Pakistan

@DrTedros "We expect the situation to continue to deteriorate. But so far, intl. support hasn't been at the scale or speed needed. Trillions of 💲 are being poured into fighting wars around the 🌍. We continue to ask intl. donors to invest in saving lives in #Pakistan"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "Tomorrow, the Emergency Committee on COVID-19 will hold its regular quarterly meeting.
Clearly, we are in a very different situation now to where we were when the committee recommended that I declare a public health emergency of intl. concern more than 33 months ago"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "We have all the tools we need to end the emergency in every country. But the #COVID19 pandemic is not over, and there is much more work to be done"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "WHO will brief the committee on the current situation & present our concerns on the continuing risks to the 🌍’s population: large 💉 gaps, reduced surveillance, low rates of testing & sequencing & uncertainties about the potential impact of current & future variants"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "On #monkeypox, 70,000+ cases have now been reported to WHO, with 26 deaths. 🌍, cases are continuing to decline, but 21 countries in the past week reported an increase in cases, mostly in the Americas, which accounted for almost 90% of all cases reported last week"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "Once again, we caution that a declining outbreak can be the most dangerous outbreak, because it can tempt us to think that the crisis is over, and to let down our guard"-@DrTedros #monkeypox

@DrTedros "That’s not what WHO is doing. We're continuing to work with countries around the 🌍 to increase their testing capacity & to monitor trends in the #monkeypox outbreak. We're concerned about reports of cases in Sudan, incl. in refugee camps near the border with Ethiopia"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "Like #COVID19, monkeypox remains a public health emergency of international concern, and WHO will continue to treat it as such"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros "Over a decade ago, I was invited to join a committee that was setting up a new health conference in #Germany, called the @WorldHealthSmt. Since then, the Summit has gone from strength to strength, & is now one of the most important events on the global health calendar"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "For the 1st time this year, WHO is the official co-organiser of the @WorldHealthSmt. Over 3 days, 1000s of leaders from public health, government, civil society, academia, youth, industry and parliaments will gather to discuss the most pressing issues in global health"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @WorldHealthSmt "We encourage all journalists around the world to follow the discussions from Sunday on Tuesday, at worldhealthsummit.org"-@DrTedros #WHS2022

The full remarks by @DrTedros at the media briefing - 12 October 2012 ⬇️ bit.ly/3yAAJUi