The World Health Organization declares monkeypox a global emergency

By Maria Cheng

The World Health Organization (WHO) called the spread of the monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries an "extraordinary" situation now

, a statement on Saturday that would spur greater investment in treatment. of the previously rare disease, and worsens the fight for scarce vaccines.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made the decision to issue the statement despite a lack of consensus among experts who are part of the UN health agency's emergency committee

It is the first time that the head of the WHO took such a measure.

"We have an outbreak that has spread rapidly around the world through new modes of transmission that we understand very little about and that meets the criteria of international health regulations," Tedros said.

There is a test that can detect the orthopoxvirus, which can cause the symptoms of monkeypox.Dado Ruvic / REUTERS

“I know that this has not been an easy or simple process and that there are divergent opinions among the members” of the committee, he added.

A global emergency is WHO's highest alert level, but the designation does not necessarily mean a disease is especially communicable or deadly.

WHO emergencies chief Dr. Michael Ryan said the director-general made the decision to include monkeypox in that category

Although monkeypox has been established in parts of central and western Africa for decades, it was not known to cause large outbreaks beyond the continent or to spread widely among the population until May, when authorities detected dozens of epidemics in Europe, North America and other places.

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The global emergency declaration means

that could spread to more countries and requires a coordinated global response.

The WHO has previously declared emergencies for public health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ebola outbreak in West Africa in 2014, the Zika virus in Latin America in 2016, and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio.

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Last month, the WHO expert committee said the global monkeypox outbreak did not yet constitute an international emergency, but the panel met this week to reassess the situation.

According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention,

To date, monkeypox deaths have only been reported in Africa, where a more dangerous version of the virus is spreading, mainly in Nigeria and the Congo.

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In Africa, monkeypox is mainly transmitted to people from infected wild animals, such as rodents, in limited outbreaks that have not usually crossed borders.

However, in Europe, North America and elsewhere, monkeypox is spreading among people with no ties to animals or recent travel to Africa.

The WHO's leading monkeypox expert, Dr. Rosamund Lewis, stated this week that 99% of monkeypox cases outside of Africa were in men, and of those, 98% were men who They had sexual relations with other men.

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“Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern at the moment, this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros said.

"That means this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups."

Dr. Michael explained what preceded the CEO's decision:

"(Tedros) found that the committee did not come to a consensus, despite having had a very open, very useful and very thoughtful discussion on the issues, and that since he is not going against the committee, what he is acknowledging is that there is profound complexities in this matter," Ryan said. "There are uncertainties on all sides.

And he is reflecting that uncertainty and his determination that the event "is a global emergency.

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Before Saturday's announcement, Michael Head, a senior research fellow in global health at the University of Southampton, said it was surprising the WHO hadn't already declared monkeypox a global emergency, explaining that the conditions were likely met weeks ago.

Some experts have questioned whether such a statement is worth anything, arguing that the disease is not serious enough to warrant care and that rich countries fighting monkeypox already have the funds to do so;

most people recover without needing medical attention, although the injuries can be painful.

On Friday, two children were diagnosed with the disease in the United States, one of them lives in California and the other was identified as a baby who does not reside in the country, according to the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, which also reported that Both minors are stable.