Monkeypox Emergency: AHF Urges L.A. County to Act Swiftly Now

AHF Zoom Press Telecon: Thurs., August 4 @ 11:00 am PT

Now that both the State of California and Los Angeles County have declared states of emergency on monkeypox, AHF is urging L.A. County health officials to swiftly ramp up and improve its uneven response to the virus outbreak that is primarily affecting gay men or men who have sex with men (MSM)

AHF will revisit its 6-point Monkeypox Plan that it proposed to County officials in early July that includes public briefings, safety warnings and ads in bathhouses and on hookup apps, lobbying the federal government for vaccines and supplies, engaging with community partners like AHF and engaging in research with universities on the changed characteristics of the virus in this pandemic

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--AHF, the largest global AIDS organization with treatment clinics or operations in 45 countries, will host a Zoom Press Teleconference THURSDAY, August 4 at 11:00 am PT (2:00 pm ET) to discuss actions that it believes Los Angeles County health officials should take on monkeypox now that both L.A. County and the State of California have declared states of emergency on the virus.

AHF will revisit its six-point monkeypox response plan which it first proposed to county officials in July. The formal declaration of a state of emergency in Los Angeles County now allows government and public health officials to mobilize additional resources and request recovery assistance under the California Disaster Assistance Act to increase and deploy funding and emergency planning to combat the monkeypox outbreak more effectively.

WHAT:	MONKEYPOX ZOOM PRESS TELECONFERENCE: Global outbreak affects U.S. -- AHF to urge L.A. County Dept. of Public Health to step up education, prevention and surveillance.
WHEN:	Thursday, August 4^th, 2022 11:00 am PT (2:00 pm ET)
WHO:	Michael Weinstein, AHF President
	Carl Millner, MD, AHF Internal Medicine Regional Medical Director, West (pending confirmation)
	Adam Sukhija-Cohen, PhD, MPH, AHF Director of Advocacy and Policy Research, Public Health Division Research
	Whitney Engeran Cordova, Vice President, Public Health Division, AHF (pending confirmation)
HOW:	Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83033590418
PRESS CONTACT:	Ged Kenslea, AHF Dir. of Communications, [phone] cell, [e-mail]
B ROLL:	AHF’s 6-point Monkeypox Response Plan, also, a “Monkeypox: L.A. County Alert” full-page newspaper ad by AHF which will run Sunday, August 7 in the Los Angeles Times and which urges L.A. County to “Put the ‘Public’ Back in Public Health.”

Monkeypox: AHF’s 6-Point Plan for the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health

1. The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health should conduct twice weekly public briefings outlining the number of new cases and where they are occurring.
   
   
2. Warnings to the gay and bisexual male population should be launched online, in newspapers and in outdoor advertising advising men to watch for symptoms; avoid group sexual situations; consult a doctor if you have symptoms indicative of monkeypox, and isolate if you are diagnosed.
   
   
3. Require signs to be posted in commercial sex venues and via banner or other ads on hookup applications.
   
   
4. Lobby the federal government to supply vaccine on an emergency basis.
   
   
5. Regularly engage community partners to assist the Department of Public Health in prevention, testing, vaccination and treatment of monkeypox.
   
   
6. Engage universities to initiate studies to determine the changed characteristics of monkeypox in the current pandemic.

“Now that a formal state of emergency on monkeypox has been declared in Los Angeles, we are calling on the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to swiftly scale up and improve its response to the virus—including securing $10 million in funding for monkeypox and STDs—after an uneven, disjointed start with monkeypox,” said Michael Weinstein, President of AHF. “County health officials can use AHF’s six-point plan as a roadmap to quickly and efficiently get on track with monkeypox and also rely on community partners like AHF to assist. Now is the time to put the ‘public’ back in public health.”

AHF LA Times Advocacy Ad: “Monkeypox: L.A. County Alert”
AHF will also run a full-page, full color ad in this Sunday’s Los Angeles Times (8/7/22), the second Sunday it has run an ad targeting L.A. County over its monkeypox response. This ad is titled “Monkeypox: L.A. County Alert.” The first ad, titled “L.A. County Fails Gay Men AGAIN” ran Sunday, July 31, 2022.

As part of efforts to educate its own AHF Healthcare Center patients and clients as well as the general public who may seek free HIV or STD testing at one of AHF Public Health Division’s 35 AHF Wellness Centers in the U.S., AHF created the following AHF Monkeypox Information Sheet.

Monkeypox has become a worldwide public health crisis, with more than 25,000 confirmed or presumptive positive cases reported as of today across more than 75 countries where it is not considered endemic, according to Reuters’ Monkeypox Factbox.

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.”