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The increase in cases of monkeypox raises the alarms of the health services of several countries. The disease, let us remember, is not fatal in most cases, and is transmitted with close physical contact. The United States is currently the country with the most reported cases of monkeypox. And the Joe Biden government declared a public health emergency due to this epidemic. A long-awaited measure by organizations that undertake community health prevention tasks.
The United States government, criticized by several public health experts for its slowness in the fight against monkeypox, finally declared a health emergency due to this epidemic. With more than 7,000 cases, the United States is by far the country that reports the most cases of this disease that currently affects mainly the LGBT population.
from the NGO Latino Commission on AIDS (Latin Committee Against AIDS) which carries out prevention tasks against various diseases, one of the organization’s coordinators in New York, Lucciano Reberte, believes that raising the level of alert against monkeypox was essential. “This declaration will free up money to be able to buy and distribute more vaccines as well as treatments. It will also speed up data collection so that better public health strategies can be designed,” he explained.
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The US government announced the distribution of 1 million 100 thousand doses in the coming months, for Reberte this amount is not enough to combat the epidemic. In New York they are distributing the vaccines “in priority to men who have sex with men, homosexuals, bisexuals, people who identify themselves as sex workers and the transgender population. We have seen that the first people who have had access to these vaccines are mostly male and white so we’re advocating for the distribution of these few available vaccines to be more equitable, to reach minority populations and people of color.”
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A number of LGBT people in both Europe and the United States have expressed fear of stigmatization such as was experienced during the worst years of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
“It is important to recognize that the majority of cases of monkeypox, 90% of cases, have been among men who have sex with men and members of the LGTBQ community. However, it is a disease that can give anyone therefore the message of education and prevention must be aimed at everyone, of course free of stigmatization and discrimination, so that public health strategies are effective”, concluded Lucciano Reberte of Latino Commission on AIDS.
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