Why the WHO has declared a global concern about monkeypox, how dangerous they are for the general population, where we are in the fight against COVID and where the Balkans are in that fight, how much we have neglected regular vaccination, and how the war in Ukraine affects the health of the local population in an exclusive interview for N1, the first after the decision of dr. Tedros to declare a public health emergency of international concern in the case of monkeypox, the director of the WHO regional office for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge.

N1: At this moment we have another element in the world of crisis, which is the outbreak of monkeypox, which is spreading around the world. The World Health Organization has decided that it is now a matter of international health concern. dr. Tedros made the decision last week. My question to you is, can you explain to our viewers what is going on? What we need to know and how those at risk should protect themselves. Also, Dr. Tedros said that Europe is a region of concern. What is WHO Europe doing about monkeypox?

DR. KLUGE: Absolutely. In fact, of the 10 countries in the world with the most cases of monkeypox, seven of the 10 are in the European region, and the other three are in the Americas. So, just like COVID 19, our region is the epicenter. What does it mean that dr. Tedros declared monkeypox an international emergency. We should take this as a wake-up call that countries, whether they have monkeypox or not, still need to step up measures and take it very seriously. From the outset, I want to emphasize that monkeypox in healthy populations is what we call self-limiting. This means that they heal themselves. It is a mild disease. Number one, number two, the big difference with COVID 19 is that transmission is much more difficult. It requires personal skin-to-skin, face-to-face or mouth-to-skin contact. It's not that easy. So we don't expect this to explode in, say, the general population. Most are in a very targeted risk group, namely men who have sex with men, especially when they have multiple partners. The average age is about 36 years and it is a disease we know well. We have antivirals, we have vaccines, even in limited quantities. So it's something we can control with targeted efforts. And that is very important. We also need to understand that the real problem is not in Europe. The real problem with monkeypox is in West and Central Africa, because it has affected the whole region, no one has died from monkeypox yet, but people in Africa are dying from monkeypox.

See the full interview in the video above.