LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) today is calling on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to immediately declare a state of emergency on monkeypox. Both New York and San Francisco have declared such emergencies, which according to the Los Angeles Times, would “…allow officials to mobilize additional resources and to accelerate funding and emergency planning to combat the outbreak…”
“The World Health Organization declared the virus a Public Health Emergency of International Concern over the weekend and now both San Francisco and New York have declared states of emergency in their respective cities while Los Angeles health officials once again are lagging behind and dragging their feet on a critical public health issue,” said AHF President Michael Weinstein. “We know vaccine doses are—and will remain—in critically short supply worldwide with months-long production delays expected. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health should mobilize everything in its toolbox to address monkeypox and declaring a state of emergency is a crucial next step to address monkeypox.”
Since May, the monkeypox virus erupted into several epidemics outside of Africa, where it has long been considered endemic in a handful of countries. Today, it’s become a worldwide public health crisis, with more than 20,800 confirmed or presumptive positive cases reported across more than 70 countries where it is not considered endemic, according to Reuters’ Monkeypox Factbox. The vast majority of these infections are occurring in gay men and men who have sex with men.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the largest global AIDS organization, currently provides medical care and/or services to over 1.6 million individuals in 45 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Eastern Europe. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth, follow us @aidshealthcare or subscribe to our AHF podcast “AHFter Hours.”