Integrate mpox with HIV and STI prevention & control programmes: WHO

  • July 25, 2023
  • Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
  • Category: DPN Topics
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Integrate mpox with HIV, STI prevention & control programmes: WHO

Subject: Economy

Section: External Sector

Context:

  • The World Health Organization (WHO) released new scientific and normative guidance for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) at the 12th International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science at Brisbane, Australia, on July 23, 2023.

About the new guidelines:

  • The new recommendations shed light on the critical role of HIV viral suppression and undetectable virus levels in enhancing individual health and preventing transmission of the virus.
  • The WHO guidelines described key HIV viral load thresholds as well as methods for measuring virus levels in relation to these thresholds.
  • The United Nations’ health agency also recommended countries integrate mpox detection, prevention and care with existing and innovative HIV and sexually transmitted infection prevention and control programmes.

Cases of mpox and HIV:

  • Over 82,000 mpox cases were reported to the WHO. Of these cases, around 32,000 cases had information on HIV status.
  • Among those, 52 per cent were living with HIV. More than 80 per cent of them reported sex as the most probable route of getting infected with mpox.
  • Around one quarter (25 per cent) had advanced HIV disease or immunosuppression — leading to an increased risk of hospitalization and death.

People living with HIV (PL-HIV):

  • People living with HIV (PL-HIV) who were taking the treatment and with good immunity had similar hospitalization and death outcomes as those who were HIV negative.
  • The evidence also suggests that there is a negligible, or nearly zero, risk of transmitting HIV when a person has a viral load measurement of less than or equal to 1000 copies per mL, also known as having a suppressed viral load.
  • An estimated 40 million people living with HIV globally depend on a cocktail of drugs to suppress the viral load in their blood. The drugs, known as ART, delay the progression of the infection into acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) and result in fatal consequences.

About Mpox

  • Mpox (previously known as monkeypox) is a rare disease caused by a virus.
  • Origins and Nature
    • First identified in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo region
  • Symptoms of Mpox
    • Infected people break out in a rash that looks like chickenpox. Symptoms include fever, malaise, headache, and enlarged lymph glands
  • Transmission of Mpox
    • Primary infection is through direct contact with the blood, bodily fluids, or cutaneous or mucosal lesions of an infected animal. Eating inadequately cooked meat of infected animals is also a risk factor. Human-to-human transmission can occur.
  • Vulnerability
    • Mpox spreads rapidly and can cause one out of ten deaths if infected
  • Treatment and Vaccine
    • There is no specific treatment or vaccine available for Monkeypox infection, but the European Union has recommended the Smallpox Vaccine, Imvanex.
economy Integrate mpox with HIV and STI prevention & control programmes: WHO