Will WHO finally declare monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency?

John Perlman spoke to Professor Helen Rees, WHO’s African regional immunisation technical advisory group chair, on why this matter is being reconsidered.

The World Health Organization (WHO) plans to reconvene its expert monkeypox committee again, to decide if the virus constitutes a global health emergency.

In late June, the organisation declared the virus as not being a global emergency, but due to an increase in cases, WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he would like to revisit the matter during this week.

The viral disease has more than 6,000 cases detected globally.

John Perlman spoke to Professor Helen Rees, WHO’s African regional immunisation technical advisory group chair, on why this matter is being reconsidered.

Rees explained that this would allow the director-general to assess if monkeypox is an extraordinary event with potential public health risk to others.

If it is indeed a global health emergency, an ad-hoc committee would immediately gather all of the up-to-date information and prioritise preventative measures such as vaccines and social awareness.

It is also important to note that the virus, originally endemic to Africa, has recently spread to many regions of the world, she said.

This disease, which has caused significant problems in the countries in the African region, has now spread to Europe and the global north and the richer countries, in fact, now to 70 countries in the world.

Professor Helen Rees, African Immunisation Technical Advisory Group chair - WHO

It seems to be behaving a little bit differently, we haven’t seen an outbreak like this before. The other thing that’s different about it is that not all the cases by any means can be associated with travel – which was previously the case.

Professor Helen Rees, African Immunisation Technical Advisory Group chair - WHO

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