WHO declares end of monkeypox health emergency

The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, has declared the end of the international health emergency due to mpox, known as monkeypox, due to the decline in cases worldwide. The WHO has taken the decision after receiving a recommendation from the International Health Regulations (IHR) Emergency Committee for the condition on Thursday, Tedros told a news conference. Since July 2022, when the emergency was activated, there have been more than 87,000 cases and 140 deaths from monkeypox in 111 countries, but in the last three months almost 90% fewer cases have been reported than in the previous three. The announcement comes six days after the end of the international emergency due to covid-19 was decreed. The Director-General has warned: "Although the alerts for mpox and covid-19 ended, the threat of new waves remains for both. The two viruses are still circulating and both are still killing."

Professor Nicola Low, vice-chair of the emergency committee for the mpox outbreak, said the drop in the number of people infected had been "impressive" as a result of public health actions, interventions, international cooperation and the intense activities of many of the communities involved.

"This does not mean that the work is done," Tedros added, because the virus "continues to affect communities in all regions, including in Africa, where transmission is not yet well understood." The cases detected related to travel highlight the "continuing threat" and that "there is a particular risk" for people living with untreated HIV infection. For this reason, it remains very important that countries continue their efforts, assess their risk, quantify their response needs and act "quickly" when necessary.

The director general has referred to the stigma surrounding the disease, because it is prevalent mainly in men who have sex with other men. In addition, outside the African context, about half of the cases have occurred among people with HIV. Despite concerns about the stigma, which currently continues to hamper access to care for mpox, "the feared backlash against the most affected communities has largely not materialized," Ghebereyesus said. It is especially important, he added, to integrate the prevention and care of mpox into existing health programs, allowing a rapid response to deal with future outbreaks.

The vice-chair of the emergency committee understands that uncertainty about the resurgence of the infection still exists due to the appearance of small numbers of cases and some smaller outbreaks in specific countries. Low also admits that they have "gaps in knowledge," including modes of transmission in some countries, the effectiveness of vaccines, and the continued lack of effective preventive measures, particularly in African countries where transmission and cases of mpox occur regularly. That is why it calls for a long-term strategy to end human-to-human transmission and mitigate zoonotic transmission. The ailment is characterized by skin rashes that may appear on the genital organs or in the mouth. It can produce fever, pain in the throat or lymph nodes.

In the ten months of the outbreak, America declared 59,000 cases, followed by Europe (25,000) and Africa (1,500), the latter continent where there have already been outbreaks of the disease in the past four decades. By countries, the ones that confirmed the most cases were the United States (30,154), Brazil (10,940), Spain (7,551), France (4,146), Colombia (4,090), Mexico (4,010) and Peru (3,800).