Monkeypox is a public health emergency of international concern-WHO

CNN
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The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the outbreak of monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern.

The decision was announced Saturday morning after WHO convened a second emergency committee on this issue on Thursday.

“We have determined that the global monkeypox outbreak is a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO Secretary-General Tedros Adhanomgebreyes announced Saturday morning.

Tedros said the Commission was unable to reach an agreement, but considered the five factors needed to determine whether an outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. Said that the decision was reached.

He added that while monkeypox was proclaiming a public health emergency of international concern: You can stop it by developing the right strategy with the right group. ”

WHO initially stopped declaring the outbreak of monkeypox as a public health emergency of international concern after the first emergency committee meeting on June 23. Although it is an “emergency situation of international concern,” it acknowledged the “evolving health threat” that WHO will follow very closely.

WHO may require internationally concerned public health emergencies, or PHEIC, as “public health risks to other countries due to the spread of international illness” and “coordinated international response” It is defined as an “abnormal event” that constitutes “having sex”.

The organization’s emergency committee on monkeypox first met in late June, and its members reported serious concerns about the magnitude and rate of outbreak of the virus, but said it did not constitute PHEIC. He said Tedros had reconvened the committee to provide up-to-date information.

The PHEIC designation derives from the 2005 International Health Regulations and represents an international agreement that helps prevent and address public health risks that may spread around the world.

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention described the regulation as “a legally binding agreement in 196 countries to build the ability to detect and report potential public health emergencies around the world.” I am. The IHR requires that all countries have the ability to detect, assess, report and respond to public health events. ”

There are two ongoing public health emergencies, polio, which began in 2014, and Covid-19, which began in 2020.

Four other PHEICs have been declared since the regulations came into force. H1N1 influenza from 2009 to 2010. Ebola from 2014 to 2016 and 2019 to 2020. And the 2016 Zika virus.

According to data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States currently reports more than 2,800 possible or confirmed cases of monkeypox in 44 states in DC and Puerto Rico. Worldwide, more than 16,500 cases have been reported in 74 countries.

Monkeypox is a less serious cousin of the currently eradicated smallpox virus. It is endemic to parts of West Africa and Central Africa and is usually transmitted from rodents or small mammals.

The monkeypox virus can spread through contact with body fluids, sores, or items such as clothing and bedding contaminated with the virus. According to the CDC, it can also spread from person to person through respiratory droplets.

People who have come into contact with people who have a rash, such as monkeypox, or who have a possible or confirmed case of monkeypox, are at increased risk of infection. Many men have sex with men this year, and public health officials are focusing on prevention in this group.