Will WHO Declare Monkeypox An International Health Emergency?

New Delhi: World Health Organisation (WHO) experts will meet today June 23, 2022) to evaluate whether the recent outbreak of monkeypox constitutes an international emergency, its highest form of an alert.

The number of monkeypox cases outside Africa has gone up to 3,000 in more than 40 countries, largely among gay people, since it was first reported in May, as per a Reuters tally. There have been no reports of deaths. The viral disease, that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, is endemic in parts of Africa and the continent has registered just over 1,500 suspected cases since the start of 2022, of which 66 have been fatal.

Most health experts agree monkeypox technically meets the criteria for the WHO definition of an emergency.

Six such emergencies

Covid-19 (2020)

Ebola(2019)

Zika (2016)

Polio (2014)

West Africa`s Ebola outbreak (2014)

H1 virus that caused an influenza pandemic (2009).