- The declaration is the WHO’s highest level of alert
- Tedros breaks deadlock in advisory committee
- The decision was hailed as a way to stop the spread of the disease
July 23 (Reuters) – A rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak constitutes a global emergency, the World Health Organization’s highest level of alert, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Saturday.
The WHO label – “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)” – is intended to trigger a coordinated international response and could unlock funding for cooperation in sharing vaccines and treatments.
Members of an expert panel that met Thursday to discuss the potential recommendation were split on the decision, with nine members against and six for the declaration, prompting Tedros himself to break the deadlock, he told reporters.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I am registering
“Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for now this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros said at a media briefing in Geneva. Read more
“Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus,” he added.
He said the risk of monkeypox – which is spread through close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions – is moderate worldwide, except in Europe, where the WHO considers the risk to be high. Read more
Tedros has usually endorsed the expert panel’s recommendations before, but the two sources told Reuters earlier on Saturday that he may have decided to back the highest alert level because of concerns about escalating case rates and shortages of vaccines and treatments.
So far this year, there have been more than 16,000 cases of monkeypox in more than 75 countries and five deaths in Africa.
The viral disease was mainly spread by men who have sex with men in the recent outbreak, outside of Africa, where it is endemic.
Health experts welcomed the WHO’s decision to issue the PHEIC declaration, which until now only applied to the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing polio eradication efforts.
In this illustration taken on May 23, 2022, test tubes labeled ‘Monkeypox virus positive and negative’ are seen. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
Read more
“The correct result is clear — not declaring a state of emergency at this time would be a historic missed opportunity,” said Lawrence Gostin, a law professor at Georgetown in Washington, D.C., calling the decision politically courageous.
The decision should help limit the spread of the viral disease, said Josie Golding, head of outbreaks and epidemiology at the Wellcome Trust.
“We cannot afford to wait for diseases to escalate before we intervene,” she said.
JUNE MEETING
The WHO and national governments are facing intense pressure from scientists and public health experts to do more about monkeypox.
Cases of the viral disease have surged since the commission first met in late June, when there were only about 3,000 cases.
At the time, the expert group agreed to reconsider its position on declaring an emergency if the outbreak escalates.
One of the key questions driving the reassessment was whether cases would spread to other groups, particularly children or others who were vulnerable to the virus in past outbreaks in endemic countries.
On Friday, the United States identified its first two cases of monkeypox in children. Read more
WHO officials said Saturday that they are investigating the possibility of the virus spreading through new modes of transmission.
Sign up now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com
I am registering
Reporting by Jennifer Rigby and Natalie Grover in London and John Revill in Zurich Editing by Helen Popper
Our standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Add Comment