The World Health Organization’s expert monkeypox committee will meet for the second time on Thursday to decide whether to hit the highest alarm it can sound on the monkeypox outbreak, declaring it a global health emergency.
Ever since early May, a surge in monkeypox infections has been reported outside the countries in West and Central Africa where the disease has long been endemic.
After nearly 14,000 cases were reported in more than 70 countries, the WHO’s emergency committee should examine during the meeting the evidence of the worsening situation.
The WHO convened for the first time an emergency committee of experts on June 23 to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the highest alert level of the UN health agency- but at that point, according to the majority, the situation had not met the threshold.
The second meeting was convened after the case numbers have risen and the virus has spread to six more countries in the past week.
If the committee advises WHOs chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the monkeypox outbreak constitutes a PHEIC, the organization will propose temporary recommendations on how to manage the global public health response and to better prevent and reduce the spread of the disease.
The WHO’s technical lead for monkeypox, Rosamund Lewis, explained on Wednesday that 98% of the reported cases are primarily among young homosexual men living in urban areas who had multiple recent anonymous or new partners.
After analyzing the latest trends and data and the efficiency of the countermeasures, the committee would make recommendations for what countries and communities should do to tackle the outbreak.
Tedros noted that the WHO will continue to do everything in its power to support countries to stop transmission and save lives regardless of the committee’s PHEIC decision.
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