The World Health Organization has classified the outbreak of monkeypox as a worldwide health emergency.
The designation, which follows an increase in cases around the globe, is the highest alert the WHO can give.
The second meeting of the WHO’s emergency committee on the virus concluded when it was announced.
According to Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director general of WHO, more than 16,000 cases have been recorded from 75 different countries.
He noted that the epidemic had so far been responsible for five deaths.
There are currently only two previous comparable medical crises, the coronavirus epidemic and the ongoing fight to eradicate polio.
The WHO has declared the epidemic of monkeypox in over 70 nations to be a “public health emergency of worldwide concern.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) has classified the outbreak of monkeypox in more than 70 nations to be a “international emergency of concern.”
The WHO title – a “public health emergency of worldwide concern” – is intended to signal the need for a coordinated international response and could facilitate funding and global initiatives to share vaccinations and treatments.
Governments are recommended to increase awareness among physicians and hospitals, to adopt preventive measures in suspected instances, and to educate the general public on how to avoid infection.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued the proclamation despite a lack of unanimity among experts working on the emergency committee of the UN health organisation. It was the first time the head of the UN agency for health had taken such a step.
In a press appearance in Geneva, Tedros announced his decision to declare a health emergency and acknowledged that the committee had failed to reach a consensus, with nine members against and six in favour.
“We have an outbreak that has swiftly expanded throughout the globe through novel mechanisms of transmission that we know too little about and that satisfies the criteria of international health rules,” Tedros said on Saturday.
“I am aware that this has not been a simple or straightforward process and that there are various opinions among the committee members,” he continued.
Tedros stated that more than 16,000 cases have been reported from 75 nations and territories, including five deaths.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has designated a global emergency as its highest level of alert; however, this does not necessarily signify that a disease is very contagious or fatal.
Dr. Michael Ryan, who is in charge of emergencies at the WHO, stated that the decision to put monkeypox into that category was made by the director-general in order to guarantee that the global community takes the current outbreak seriously.
Before the month of May, when authorities discovered dozens of epidemics in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world, it was not known that monkeypox could spark large outbreaks beyond the continent or that it could spread widely among people. However, it has been present in certain regions of Central and West Africa for several decades.
To this day, monkeypox-related fatalities have only been reported in Africa, specifically in Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. This is because it is in Africa that a more lethal strain of the virus is spreading.
In Africa, monkeypox is most commonly transmitted from infected wild animals, such as rats, to humans through localised epidemics that, in most cases, do not cross international borders. However, monkeypox is spreading around the globe, including in Europe, North America, and other regions, even among people who have little contact with animals and have not recently travelled to Africa.
According to Lawrence Gostin, Director of the WHO Center on Global Health Law, there has been “an exponential surge in monkeypox cases in five WHO regions of the world.” This information was provided to Al Jazeera.
“In order to put a stop to this as soon as possible, there needs to be extensive contact tracing, comprehensive testing, and a well-planned deployment of vaccines,” However, the window of opportunity to restrict monkeypox is quickly closing, and we fear that the disease may become endemic in Europe, North America, and other parts of the world over the next several months, as Gostin stated in an interview with Al Jazeera.
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