WHO stops short of declaring monkeypox a global emergency as cases surge
The World Health Organization has decided not to declare monkeypox a global emergency despite a rapid rise in cases in Europe, electing instead to describe it as an “evolving health threat.”
The announcement Saturday comes after the
WHO’s International Health Regulations Emergency Committee met last week to discuss whether the monkeypox outbreak should be labeled a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, or PHEIC, which would have marshaled new funding and spurred governments into action.
WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
said the committee shared “serious concerns about the scale and speed of the current outbreak,” which, he said, now spans more than 50 countries, with some 3,000 cases since early May.
The committee agreed the outbreak requires “coordinated action” to stop the further spread of the monkeypox virus using public health measures, including surveillance, contact-tracing, isolation and care of patients.
But there were differing views among committee members about whether the event yet constituted a health emergency of international concern – which is the highest level of alert WHO can issue. The coronavirus which causes covid-19 was labeled a
PHEIC following a similar meeting in January 2020.
“Everybody’s tired of the COVID pandemic and nobody wants to hear about another sort of infectious disease outbreak. But the point is, is that we’re sort of on the cusp of containment among men who have sex with men or whatnot. And to get us to where we need to go, we need global coordination and a global commitment,” said Gregg Gonsalves, an infectious diseases expert at Yale School of Public Health, who is a non-voting member of the WHO committee and believes moneypox should be declared a global
The committee noted monkeypox has been circulating in a number of African countries for decades and has been neglected in terms of research, attention and funding – a point that has previously led some experts to suggest a double standard in the response to the outbreak in Europe.
Monkeypox is spread through close contact and has so far primarily affected men who have sex with men. It begins with flu-like symptoms before fluidfilled lumps or lesions appear on the skin, which can leave behind permanent scarring.