As covid subsides, monkeypox beckons. The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared monkeypox a global health emergency, signaling a potential fresh global health crisis on the heels of the pandemic.
Rattled by the rising number of cases around the world, the WHO issued the declaration at the end of the second meeting of its emergency committee on the monkeypox virus.
“Having considered the views of Committee Members and Advisors as well as other factors in line with the International Health Regulations, the Director-General has determined that the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox constitutes a Public Health Emergency of International Concern,” the WHO said in a statement.
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The UN health arm is apparently seeking prompt response to the virus to curtail the possibility of it spreading like covid.
Monkeypox is caused by the monkeypox virus, which comes from the lineage of viruses such as smallpox. But it spreads significantly slower than other viruses and has low infection chances.
However, the upsurge of monkeypox cases shows the virus needs to be taken seriously. The WHO director general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said more than 16,000 cases have now been reported from 75 countries, and there had been five deaths so far as a result of the outbreak.
Although early assessment shows moderate spread of the virus it also shows signs of potential wider contagion. The emergency committee had been unable to reach a consensus on whether the monkeypox should be classified as a global health emergency, according to Dr Tedros.
However, he said the outbreak had spread around the world rapidly and he had decided that it was indeed of international concern.
Too little was understood about the new modes of transmission which had allowed it to spread, said Dr Tedros.
“The 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.
There was also a clear risk of further international spread, although the risk of interference with international traffic remained low for the moment, he said.
The declaration also comes with recommendations. The WHO, building on covid’s safety structure, outlined preventive measures that include establishing and intensifying epidemiological disease surveillance, including access to reliable, affordable and accurate diagnostic tests, for illness compatible with monkeypox as part of existing national surveillance systems.
In addition, the WHO urged the authorities to activate or establish health and multi-sectoral coordination mechanisms to strengthen all aspects of readiness for responding to monkeypox and stop human to human transmission, and also raise awareness about monkeypox virus transmission to quell the stigma that may prevent infected persons from seeking medical help.
Dr Tedros said the declaration would help speed up the development of vaccines and the implementation of measures to limit the spread of the virus.
“This is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups,” he said.
The world is now facing three global health crises at once. Covid, which although has subsided, is still spreading through emerging variants. Polio, which the WHO has been battling to contain and monkeypox.