Published 23rd Jul, 2022

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency.

The declaration, which was done on Saturday, is the highest alert over an outbreak. It also took the monkeypox outbreak to the same level as the coronavirus pandemic, BBC reported.

Speaking at the end of the second meeting of the organisation’s emergency committee on the virus, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director general, said over 16,000 cases had been reported in 75 countries.

He also said there had been five deaths so far as a result of the outbreak.

Ghebreyesus said the emergency committee had been unable to reach a consensus on whether the monkeypox outbreak should be classified as a global health emergency.

However, he said the outbreak had spread around the world rapidly and he had decided that it was indeed of international concern.

“The WHO’s assessment is that the risk of monkeypox is moderate globally and in all regions, except in the European region, where we assess the risk as high,” he said.

There was also a clear risk of further international spread, although the risk of interference with international traffic remained low at the moment, he said.

He also said the declaration would help speed up the development of vaccines and the implementation of measures to limit the spread of the virus.

He said cases were currently concentrated among men having sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners, and that countries needed to adopt measures that would protect their health, human rights and dignity.

“Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus,” he said.

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