WHO considers ‘global health emergency’ tag for monkeypox

Agency does not expect to announce any decisions by its committee before Friday

LONDON — The World Health Organization convenes its emergency committee Thursday to consider whether the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency. But some experts say the WHO’s decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could entrench the grotesque inequities that arose between rich and poor countries during the coronavirus pandemic.

Declaring monkeypox a global emergency would mean the U.N. health agency considers the outbreak an “extraordinary event” and that the disease is at risk of spreading across even further, possibly requiring a global response. It would also give monkeypox the same distinction as the COVID-19 pandemic and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio.

The WHO said it did not expect to announce any decisions made by its emergency committee before Friday.

Many scientists doubt any declaration would help curb the epidemic since developed countries recording the most recent cases are already moving quickly to shut it down.

Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the monkeypox epidemic in more than 40 countries, mostly in Europe, as “unusual and concerning.” Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and west Africa, where one version of the disease kills up to 10% of people infected. The version of the disease seen in Europe and elsewhere usually has a fatality rate of less than 1% and no deaths beyond Africa have so far been reported.

“If WHO was really worried about monkeypox spread, they could have convened their emergency committee … when it reemerged in Nigeria in 2017 and no one knew why we suddenly had hundreds of cases,” said Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups. “It is a bit curious that WHO only called their experts when the disease showed up in white countries,” he said.

Until last month, monkeypox had not caused sizeable outbreaks beyond Africa. Scientists have not found any mutations that suggest it is more transmissible, and a leading adviser to the WHO said last month that the surge of cases in Europe was likely tied to sexual activity among gay and bisexual men at two raves in Spain and Belgium.

To date, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 3,300 cases of monkeypox in 42 countries where the virus has not been typically seen. More than 80% of cases are in Europe. Meanwhile, Africa has seen more than 1,400 cases and 62 deaths this year.

David Fidler, a senior fellow in global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the WHO’s newfound focus on monkeypox amid its spread beyond Africa could inadvertently worsen the divide between rich and poor countries seen during COVID-19.

“There may be legitimate reasons why WHO raised the alarm only when monkeypox spread to rich countries, but, to poor countries, that looks like a double standard,” Fidler said. He said the global community was still struggling to ensure the world’s poor are vaccinated against coronavirus and that it was unclear if Africans even wanted monkeypox vaccines, given such competing priorities as malaria and HIV.

“Unless African governments specifically ask for vaccines, it might be a bit patronizing to send them … ” Fidler said.

The WHO has also proposed creating a vaccinesharing mechanism to help affected countries, which could see doses go to such rich countries as Britain, which has the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa and recently widened its use of vaccines.