The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the global outbreak of monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, the strongest call to action the agency can make.
It is the seventh time such a declaration has been made since 2009, the most recent being that of Covid-19, to which the WHO gave the same label in 2020, and after a meeting of a committee of experts this Thursday.
A public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, is defined by the WHO’s international health regulations as “an extraordinary event that is determined to constitute a public health risk to other states due to the spread international disease and that may require a coordinated international response.
The UN health agency said the term implies that the situation is serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected, has public health implications beyond national borders and may require immediate international attention.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the WHO, told a press conference that the committee met on Thursday to review the latest data, but could not reach a consensus. However, it has since decided to break the deadlock by declaring a PHEIC.
“In short, we have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission about which we understand too little and that meets the criteria of international health regulations,” he said. “For all these reasons, I have decided that the global outbreak of monkeypox represents a global health emergency of international concern.”
While it said the risk of smallpox was “moderate” globally, it was “high” in Europe and there was “a clear risk of further international spread”.
Globally, there have been 16,016 cases of monkeypox so far, 4,132 of which last week, according to WHO data. It is now in 75 countries and territories and there have been five deaths.
The European region has the highest number of total cases, with 11,865, and the largest increase over the past seven days, with 2,705.
Dr Rosamund Lewis, technical lead for monkeypox in the WHO’s health emergencies programme, said: “There is a lot of work to be done.”
He said steps must be taken to establish what causes the risk and reduce the situations that can put people at risk so they can protect themselves. “This is how we’re going to get to the end of this outbreak,” he said.
Monkeypox is a viral infection commonly found in animals in central and western Africa, although it can cause outbreaks in humans. Cases are sometimes identified in countries where the virus is not endemic, but the latest outbreak was unprecedented.
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While European countries have been the most affected, cases have also been reported in the US, Canada, Australia, Nigeria, Israel, Brazil and Mexico, among others.
The WHO said the outbreak occurred mainly among men who have sex with men who had recently reported having sex with new or multiple partners. However, experts have stressed that anyone can contract monkeypox as it spreads through close or intimate contact, and the UN has warned that some media portrayals of Africans and LGBTQ+ people “reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate the stigma.”
Dr Michael Ryan, executive director of the WHO’s emergencies programme, said: “We all know how difficult it has historically been to deal with problems like this because of the stigma.”
“If it’s nothing else, it’s an enlightened personal interest,” he added, as well as “solidarity” with those affected.