WHO cites highest monkeypox alert

WHO’s assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region where we assess the risk as high

GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP) — The World Health Organization (WHO) on Saturday declared the monkeypox outbreak, which has affected nearly 17,000 people in 74 countries, to be a global health emergency — the highest alarm it can sound.

“I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

He said a committee of experts who met on Thursday was unable to reach a consensus, so it fell to him to decide whether to trigger the highest alert possible.

“WHO’s assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region where we assess the risk as high,” he added.

Monkeypox has affected more than 16,800 people in 74 countries, according to a tally by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published on 22 July.

Washington welcomed the WHO’s declaration as “a call to action for the world community to stop the spread of this virus”.

“A coordinated, international response is essential to stop the spread of monkeypox, protect communities at greatest risk of contracting the disease, and combat the current outbreak,” said Raj Panjabi, senior director for the White House’s global health security and biodefence division.

A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.

Overall, 98 percent of infected people were gay or bisexual men, and around a third were known to have visited sex-on-site venues such as sex parties or saunas within the previous month.

A coordinated, international response is essential to stop the spread of monkeypox, protect communities at greatest risk of contracting the disease, and combat the current outbreak.

Tedros has previously expressed concern that stigma and scapegoating could make the outbreak harder to track.

On Saturday, he said the outbreak was “concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners” which meant it “can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups.”

YUKI IWAMURA/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE KYLE Planck, 26, who has recovered from monkeypox, shows scars from rashes on his skin during an interview in New York on 19 July 2022. 'Don’t want anyone to have to go through what I went through' just cured of monkeypox, which gave him 'the worst pain of his life' despite rapid treatment, Planck, regrets the lack of response from health authorities when the epidemic appeared in the US.