Monkeypox Declared a Global Health Emergency, WHO Announces
monkeypox (MPV) outbreak that has affected over 70 countries can now be considered a global health emergency — the highest level of alert the agency can make.WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’s declaration comes before the WHO’s emergency committee had a consensus on categorizing the MPV outbreak as such.The outbreak has mostly affected men who have sex with men, according to the WHO.
But the WHO has cautioned that anyone is susceptible to the virus since it’s transmitted by close or intimate contact. The agency has also condemned homophobic and racist responses to the outbreak.Such a move by a WHO chief hasn’t happened before, according to the Associated Press.“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission about which we understand too little and which meets the criteria in the international health regulations,” Tedros said. “I know this has not been an easy or straightforward process and that there are divergent views among the [committee] members.”The designation of the MPV outbreak as a global emergency means that it has the potential to spread to other countries and requires a global response.
There’s been almost 17,000 confirmed cases of MPV around the globe in 74 countries, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.Related: Millions of Monkeypox Vaccines Ordered by Feds“Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern for 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 that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups.”In explaining Tedros’s decision to make the.
