3 ms·

The actual statement: https://www.who.int/news/item/25-06-2022-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee--regarding-the-multi-c

The actual statement: https://www.who.int/news/item/25-06-2022-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee--regarding-the-multi-country-monkeypox-outbreak https://www.who.int/news/item/25-06-2022-meeting-of-the-inte... "The Committee was concerned about the potential for exacerbation of the stigmatization and infringement of human rights, including the rights to privacy, non-discrimination, physical and mental health, of affected population groups, which would further impede response efforts." This is giving me strong early 2020 vibes . . . basically, "let's not declare an emergency to avoid stigmatization".

dehrmann 4y ago
Remember when they decided it would be a good time to rename it because the name is "discriminatory and stigmatizing?" I feel like there are more urgent things right now...
- hedora 4y ago
  Reminds me of swine flu; it's not kosher / halal.
allemagne 4y ago
Appreciate the link to the primary source. Also from that statement: >The Committee discussed key issues related to the outbreak, including: current observations of plateauing or potential downward trends in case numbers in some of the countries experiencing outbreak early on... >...The Committee recognized that monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa, where it has been noted to cause disease, including fatalities, for decades... >...However, the Committee unanimously acknowledged the emergency nature of the event and that controlling the further spread of outbreak requires intense response efforts... >...The Committee considered that the occurrence of one or more of the following should prompt a re-assessment of the event: evidence of an increase in the rate of growth of cases reported in the next 21 days, both among and beyond the population groups currently affected; occurrence of cases among sex workers; evidence of significant spread to and within additional countries, or significant increases in number of cases and spread in endemic countries... My reading is that the primary reason why a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)" wasn't declared is because there's not enough evidence of growth and in fact evidence of a plateau in case numbers. Obviously I don't have access to any special information either way about whether this is a fair assessment. Worries about "stigmatization" of gay men also seems to be a factor, and I agree that it would be really weird if offending the sensibilities of gay people in Western countries was a main concern (or something like that), but reading between the lines a bit I think it's probably more about the countries in Western Africa where monkeypox has already been endemic for decades and homosexuality is punishable by law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminalization_of_homosexuality#Current_status https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminalization_of_homosexuali...
- collectedparts 4y ago
  Uh... but the CDC won't even acknowledge how many tests have been conducted. https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1540743939275096069 https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1540743939275096069 Won't have high case counts if you don't have testing! Yeah we really are acting like we haven't been watching this exact same movie for the last 2 years. Incredible.
  - q1w2 4y ago
    That's because they don't know. Hospitals aren't reporting it. The conspiracy theories aren't useful. This is just not an airborne disease, so forcing a new national test tracking program is not warranted.
deleted 4y ago
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vkou 4y ago
Look back a little further, to 1981, which was when AIDS was first identified by modern medicine, and then how nobody gave a rat's ass about it until people who weren't gay men or junkies started catching HIV.

dehrmann 4y ago

Remember when they decided it would be a good time to rename it because the name is "discriminatory and stigmatizing?" I feel like there are more urgent things right now...

hedora 4y ago
Reminds me of swine flu; it's not kosher / halal.

allemagne 4y ago

Appreciate the link to the primary source. Also from that statement: >The Committee discussed key issues related to the outbreak, including: current observations of plateauing or potential downward trends in case numbers in some of the countries experiencing outbreak early on... >...The Committee recognized that monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa, where it has been noted to cause disease, including fatalities, for decades... >...However, the Committee unanimously acknowledged the emergency nature of the event and that controlling the further spread of outbreak requires intense response efforts... >...The Committee considered that the occurrence of one or more of the following should prompt a re-assessment of the event: evidence of an increase in the rate of growth of cases reported in the next 21 days, both among and beyond the population groups currently affected; occurrence of cases among sex workers; evidence of significant spread to and within additional countries, or significant increases in number of cases and spread in endemic countries... My reading is that the primary reason why a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)" wasn't declared is because there's not enough evidence of growth and in fact evidence of a plateau in case numbers. Obviously I don't have access to any special information either way about whether this is a fair assessment. Worries about "stigmatization" of gay men also seems to be a factor, and I agree that it would be really weird if offending the sensibilities of gay people in Western countries was a main concern (or something like that), but reading between the lines a bit I think it's probably more about the countries in Western Africa where monkeypox has already been endemic for decades and homosexuality is punishable by law. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminalization_of_homosexuality#Current_status https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criminalization_of_homosexuali...

collectedparts 4y ago
Uh... but the CDC won't even acknowledge how many tests have been conducted. https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1540743939275096069 https://twitter.com/CT_Bergstrom/status/1540743939275096069 Won't have high case counts if you don't have testing! Yeah we really are acting like we haven't been watching this exact same movie for the last 2 years. Incredible.
- q1w2 4y ago
  That's because they don't know. Hospitals aren't reporting it. The conspiracy theories aren't useful. This is just not an airborne disease, so forcing a new national test tracking program is not warranted.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]

vkou 4y ago

Look back a little further, to 1981, which was when AIDS was first identified by modern medicine, and then how nobody gave a rat's ass about it until people who weren't gay men or junkies started catching HIV.