Thread by @WHO

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

"On Tuesday, #Tanzania confirmed its first known cases of #Marburg virus disease. So far, 8 cases have been confirmed, including 5 deaths. More than 160 contacts have been identified and are being monitored"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1638525444054982656?s=20

@DrTedros "National responders trained jointly by WHO and the @CDCgov have been deployed to the affected region to carry out further investigations, monitor contacts and provide clinical care"-@DrTedros #Tanzania #Marburg

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638906120134696961?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "#Tanzania was able to confirm the outbreak because the first samples were tested at a mobile lab that was set up as a result of work supported by WHO last year to prepare for outbreaks of viral haemorrhagic fever, including Ebola and #Marburg"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638906290817646594?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "A month ago, #EquatorialGuinea also reported an outbreak of #Marburg virus disease. Since then, 8 additional laboratory-confirmed cases have been reported, bringing the total to nine confirmed and 20 probable cases"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @CDCgov "WHO has deployed experts to #EquatorialGuinea to support the government’s response, and to strengthen community engagement"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638906529364557824?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "#Marburg belongs to the same family of viruses as Ebola, causes similar symptoms, transmits between humans the same way, and like Ebola, has a very high fatality ratio"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @CDCgov "While there are no approved vaccines or therapeutics for #Marburg, WHO is leading an effort to evaluate candidate vaccines and therapeutics, in the context of the outbreak"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @CDCgov "The developers are on board, the clinical trial protocols are ready, the experts and donors are ready, once the national government and the researchers give the green light"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638906919208333314?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "In the meantime, we are not defenceless. Careful contact tracing, isolation and supportive care are powerful tools to prevent #Marburg transmission and save lives"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638906989756444673?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "We continue to see misinformation on social media and in mainstream media about the #PandemicAccord that countries are now negotiating. As I said last week, the claim that the accord will cede power to WHO is quite simply false. It’s fake news"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @CDCgov "Countries will decide what the #PandemicAccord says, and countries alone. And countries will implement the accord in line with their own national laws. No country will cede any sovereignty to WHO"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638907238298288129?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "If any politician, business person or anyone at all is confused about what the #PandemicAccord is and isn’t, we would be more than happy to discuss it and explain it"-@DrTedros

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638907339267866624?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "Yesterday, the first UN Water Conference in 50 years began in New York. Around the world, 2 billion people lack safe drinking water, and almost half the world’s population use sanitation services that leave human waste untreated"-@DrTedros #WaterAction

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638473628294565889?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "Half of all health care facilities globally lack water and soap, or alcohol-based hand sanitizer. The consequences are deadly"-@DrTedros #WaterAction

@DrTedros @CDCgov "Each year, at least 1.4 million people – many of them children – die from preventable causes linked to unsafe water & poor sanitation. Right now, for example, #cholera is spreading in countries that haven't had outbreaks in decades"-@DrTedros #WaterAction

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638907937656651776?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov "Around the world, WHO and @UNICEF work with governments and partners to improve access to water, sanitation and hygiene"-@DrTedros #WaterAction

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF "We are calling for:
-stronger government leadership to drive change
-improved funding and financing
-investments in workforce and institutions
-better data and evidence to guide decisions
-innovation and experimentation"-@DrTedros #WaterAction

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638908238329520128?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF "The right to health means the right to safe water, sanitation and hygiene"-@DrTedros #WaterAction

https://twitter.com/DrTedros/status/1638648461091381250?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF "Tomorrow is #WorldTBDay. It marks the date 141 years ago – the 24th of March 1882 – that the German scientist Robert Koch first presented his discovery of the bacterium that causes #tuberculosis, or TB"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF "Since then, we have come a long way. We have tests, treatments and a vaccine against #tuberculosis (TB) that have saved countless lives. TB is a preventable, treatable and curable disease"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF "Since 2000, deaths from #tuberculosis (TB) have dropped by nearly 40% 🌍 and over 74 million people have received access to TB services. Yet it still kills 1.6 million people each year and affects millions more, with enormous impacts on families and communities"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF "The #COVID19 pandemic, and conflicts in many countries, have severely disrupted services to prevent, detect and treat #tuberculosis (TB). As a result, WHO last year reported an increase in TB deaths for the first time in more than a decade"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF "In 2015, the nations of the world committed to ending the global #tuberculosis epidemic by 2030, in the @GlobalGoalsUN"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "This September, world leaders will meet in New York for the second #UNGA High-Level Meeting on #tuberculosis (TB). We believe that meeting should be a turning point in the fight against TB, if leaders make real and lasting commitments to invest in the response to TB"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "Ending #tuberculosis (TB) by 2030 is an extremely ambitious target. To support that target, we established the WHO Flagship Initiative on TB five years ago, to advance research and to increase access to TB services"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "We need to make the tools we have available to more people. But we also need new tools. Increasing drug resistance is undermining the effectiveness of some medicines that are used to treat #tuberculosis"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "The only #tuberculosis (TB) vaccine developed to date, the BCG vaccine, is more than 100 years old, and does not adequately protect adolescents and adults, who account for most TB transmission"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "That’s why WHO has proposed establishing a #tuberculosis (TB) Vaccine Acceleration Council, to facilitate the development, licensing and use of new TB vaccines"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "But it’s also clear that we cannot truly #EndTB unless we address its drivers: poverty, malnutrition, diabetes, HIV, tobacco and alcohol use, poor living and working conditions, stigma and discrimination, and more"-@DrTedros

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "For that reason, we have decided to extend the initiative for a further five years, until 2027, and broaden its scope"-@DrTedros #EndTB

https://twitter.com/WHO/status/1638910415949246473?s=20

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "Ending TB is not a job for WHO alone or governments alone or health systems alone. It will take action – and greater accountability – from all governments, agencies, donors, researchers, the private sector, and civil society"-@DrTedros #EndTB

@DrTedros @CDCgov @UNICEF @GlobalGoalsUN "Today marks the first day of #Ramadan, so for all Muslims, I wish you Ramadan Kareem"-@DrTedros bit.ly/409dbSh