The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the ongoing outbreak of mpox in Africa as a global public health emergency.
WHO, in a meeting with the emergency committee and independent experts on Wednesday, August 14, discussed the concerns over the spread of the virus and the severity of the outbreak, CNN reported.
After consultation with experts, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced, “The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of mpox in the eastern DRC, its detection in neighboring countries that had not previously reported mpox, and the potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying.”
He further added, “The emergency committee met and advised me that the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice (PHEIC).”
Moreover, the health organization gave the virus 'PHEIC' status after it noted that the outbreak may require a ‘coordinated international response.’
The Chairman of the Committee, Dimie Ogoina, explained, “It was unanimous that the current outbreak of mpox, the upsurge of mpox, is an extraordinary event. What we have in Africa is the tip of the iceberg. … We are not recognizing, or we don’t have the full picture of, this burden of mpox.”
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral skin disease that spreads through close contact with the infected person.
Furthermore, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared a health emergency on Tuesday after more than 17,000 mpox cases and over 500 deaths have been reported in 13 different counties of the continent in just seven months.
