The monkeypox epidemic, also known as Monkeypox, represents “an evolving threat”, but not “a health emergency of international concern at this time”, according to the conclusions of the report of the Committee of emergency from the World Health Organization (WHO), published on Saturday.
The monkeypox virus has been identified in more than 50 countries, with 3,000 cases since early May, the WHO said.
The WHO emergency committee, meeting this week in Geneva, “shared serious concerns about the scale and speed of the current epidemic, identified many unknowns, gaps in current data and prepared a report of consensus that reflects the divergent points of view within the committee,” said the director general of the UN health agency, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in a press release.
Overall, “they informed me that at this time the outbreak does not constitute a public health emergency of international concern, which is the highest level of alert the WHO can issue. , but acknowledged that the convening of the committee itself reflects growing concern over the international spread of the virus,” he continued.
“This is clearly an evolving health threat that my colleagues and I at the WHO Secretariat are following very closely. This requires our collective attention and coordinated action now to stop the spread of monkeypox virus using public health measures, including surveillance, contact tracing, isolation and patient care, and by ensuring that health tools like vaccines and treatments are available to at-risk populations and shared equitably,” he said.
For the same UN official, the monkeypox virus has been circulating in a number of African countries for decades and has been neglected in terms of research, attention and funding. “This needs to change not only for monkeypox, but also for other neglected diseases in low-income countries,” he advocated.
“What makes the current outbreak of particular concern is the rapid and continued spread to new countries and regions and the risk of onward and sustained transmission to vulnerable populations, including immunocompromised people, pregnant women and children,” pointed out Dr. Tedros.
With MAP
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