WHO Declares Monkeypox a Global Public Health Emergency

The World Health Organization on Saturday formally classified monkeypox as a “public health emergency of international concern,” warning that the viral disease is spreading rapidly across the globe.

The WHO’s decision came after a panel of advisers failed to reach a consensus position on whether monkeypox constitutes a global health emergency. Saturday’s move marks the second time in two years that the WHO has issued such an international health emergency declaration.

“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,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Saturday. “There is also a clear risk of further international spread, although the risk of interference with international traffic remains low for the moment.”

Thus far, more than 16,000 monkeypox infections and five deaths have been reported in 75 countries and territories across the globe. On Friday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention confirmed the country’s first two monkeypox cases in children.

There are vaccines and treatments for monkeypox, but public health advocates and experts have voiced concern that access is highly unequal and distribution has been slow—echoing the devastating failures of the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Unless we declare an emergency and act quickly to combat it, we risk repeating the same mistakes we made with our Covid-19 battle,” Eric Feigl-Ding, Kavita Patel, and Yaneer Bar-Yam wrote in a Washington Post op-ed earlier this month.

Originally published at Commondreams.org.