The epidemic of monkeypox has been classified as a public health emergency of worldwide concern by the WHO.
After WHO’s second emergency committee met on Thursday, the decision was made public on Saturday morning.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director-general, stated on Saturday that the global monkeypox outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern.
He noted that while the committee could not agree, he made the conclusion based on the five components needed to determine whether an outbreak constituted a public health emergency of international concern.
“For the moment this is an outbreak that’s concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those who have multiple partners, that means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right right groups,” he said while declaring monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern.
After its first emergency committee meeting on June 23, the World Health Organization (WHO) decided not to declare the monkeypox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. However, he recognized that “the occurrence did not constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern” at the time, saying the emergency committee had urged against declaring it an international public health emergency.
a public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, is defined by the World Health Organization as “an extraordinary incident” that poses a “public health risk to other States through the international transmission of illness” and “may potentially necessitate a coordinated international response.” a
The organization’s monkeypox emergency committee convened for the first time in late June, when its members expressed grave worries about the scope and pace of the viral outbreak, but said it did not constitute a public health emergency of public health importance. Tedros has stated that he called a new meeting of the committee in order to present the most recent facts.
The PHEIC designation is derived from the 2005 International Health Regulations and signifies an international agreement to assist in the prevention and response to hazards to public health that have the potential to spread throughout the globe.
The regulations are described as such by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as “196 countries have signed a legally binding agreement to improve global health emergency detection and reporting capabilities. Detection and assessment of public health events are a requirement of the IHR for all nations.”
Covid-19, which begins in 2020, and polio, which began in 2014, are both public health emergencies.
Since the regulations were put in place, there have been four further PHEICs proclaimed: H1N1 influenza in 2009 and 2010, Ebola in 2014, 2016, and again in 2019 and 2020; and Zika virus in 2016. All of these were designated PHEICs.
Monkeypox has been reported in 44 states, DC and Puerto Rico since January 1, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over 16,500 cases have been documented in 74 countries throughout the world.
Smallpox’s relative, monkeypox, is a considerably less dangerous disease. Some portions of West and Central Africa are home to this endemic disease, which is transmitted by rodents or other small mammals.
It is possible for the monkeypox virus to spread by contact with bodily fluids, lesions, or infected things like clothing and bedding. A respiratory droplet can potentially spread the disease from one person to another, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
There is a high risk of infection for any person exposed to someone who has monkeypox-like rash, or who has been exposed to someone who has a suspected or confirmed case of monkeypox. Public health officials are focusing their efforts on guys who have had intercourse with other men because of the high number of cases this year.