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Monkeypox declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization [un.org]:

Undecided committee

Tedros clarified that the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations, convened last Thursday, could not reach a consensus about Monkeypox.

He explained that WHO has to consider five elements to decide whether an outbreak constitutes a public health emergency of international concern.

1. Information provided by countries – which in this case shows that the virus has spread rapidly to many countries that have not seen it before;
2. The three criteria for declaring a public health emergency of international concern under the International Health Regulations— being an extraordinary event, a public health risk to other States and a potential need to require a coordinated international response;
3. The advice of the Emergency Committee, which did not reach a consensus;
4. Scientific principles, evidence and other relevant information – which according to Tedros are currently insufficient and leave them with many unknowns;
5. The risk to human health, international spread, and the potential for interference with international traffic.

Commitee member's in support of declaring the emergency expressed that future waves of Monkeypox cases are expected as the virus will be introduced in additional susceptible populations, and that the current magnitude of the outbreak might be underestimated.

They also cited the "moral duty" to deploy all means and tools available to respond to the outbreak, as highlighted by leaders of the LGBTI+ communities from several countries, bearing in mind that the community currently most affected outside Africa is the same initially reported to be affected in the early stages of HIV/AIDS pandemic.

The experts underscored that the modes of transmission sustaining the current outbreak are still not fully understood.

Recommendations

In order to fight the Monkeypox outbreak WHO recommends countries to:

• Implement a coordinated response to stop transmission and protect vulnerable groups
• Engage and protect affected communities
• Intensify surveillance and public health measures
• Strengthen clinical management and infection prevention and control in hospitals and clinics
• Accelerate research into the use of vaccines, therapeutics and other tools

A full set of recommendations adapted to different country contexts is published on WHO’s website [outlook.com], and the agency has also launched a live data dashboard for the monkeypox outbreak. [who.int]

 WHO now has three active public health emergencies of international concern: COVID-19 [un.org], polio and Monkeypox.

Original Submission