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Experts urge better mpox communication to improve detection, treatment
Experts are urging the government to improve its approach and messaging in risk communication to avoid stigmatizing both the disease and patients amid a mpox casesthe country see more cases in the past few weeks.
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A health worker holds up an informational poster about monkeypox on Nov. 1, 2023 at the Puskesmas (community health center) in Kedaung, South Tangerang, Banten. The Health Ministry is urging people to avoid direct contact with infected patients or animals to prevent the transmission of monkeypox. (Antara/Sulthony Hasanuddin)
H
ealth authorities have found more mpox cases across the country after epidemiologists estimated that the actual caseload was much larger than the number of reported and detected cases.
Experts say the high number of cases that had gone undetected could be due to stigmatization and the government’s poor risk communication, potentially putting more people at risk if these aspects were not corrected soon.
Mpox is a viral zoonosis that originated in Africa. The World Health Organization initially considered the disease to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) following an outbreak in several countries in May last year. Later in November 2022, the United Nations health body renamed the disease formerly known as monkeypox to distance it from “racist and stigmatizing language”.
As of Thursday evening in Jakarta, at least 26 active mpox cases are currently receiving treatment in isolation, according to the city’s health agency. All patients are men aged between 25 and 50 years, and doctors suspect they contracted the pathogen through sexual contact.
The figure marks a jump from around six cases in mid-October.
Read also: Health Ministry increases vigilance as monkeypox cases multiply
Indonesia detected its first mpox case in August 2022, and the patient recovered that same month.
