China News Service, July 24th. According to a comprehensive report, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced on the 23rd local time that the current monkeypox epidemic has constituted a "public health emergency of international concern" (PHEIC).
This is the highest level of public health alert that WHO can currently issue.
Data map: Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of the World Health Organization.
According to Reuters, on the 21st, Tedros convened the WHO emergency committee for the second time to discuss the multi-country monkeypox outbreak, but the committee failed to reach an agreement on whether the outbreak constituted a "public health emergency of international concern". consensus.
Among them, 9 members opposed the decision and 6 members supported it.
However, at the press conference on the 23rd, Tedros decided to announce that the monkeypox epidemic alert was raised to this highest level.
Tedros said "we know very little" about the rapid spread of monkeypox to many countries that have never had cases before, CNBC reported.
"For these reasons, I believe the global monkeypox outbreak constitutes a 'public health emergency of international concern'," he said.
Tedros said monkeypox is currently high risk only in Europe, and moderate risk globally and in all other regions.
Tedros also said that while he declared the monkeypox outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern," "for now, this is a pandemic that focuses on men who have sex with men, especially with multiple sexual partners. Outbreaks in men".
He added, "Stigma and discrimination are as dangerous as any virus."
According to WHO data, since 2022, more than 16,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox have been reported in 75 countries and regions around the world, including 5 deaths, all in Africa.
The WHO Emergency Committee, which first met on the monkeypox outbreak in June, advised Tedros to not designate the outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern" for now.
Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease caused by infection with the monkeypox virus.
The typical clinical manifestations of monkeypox are fever, rash, and swollen lymph nodes, and may lead to a series of complications.
In the past few weeks, several European and American countries have reported multiple clusters of monkeypox virus, most of them involving men who have sex with men.
The WHO said that monkeypox cases are often found in West and Central Africa, and it is not normal for confirmed and suspected cases reported in many countries without any travel history to monkeypox-endemic areas.