As of Thursday, the World Health Organization has announced that the monkeypox outbreak is no longer regarded as a global public health emergency. Following their meeting this week, the emergency committee for mpox at WHO advised discontinuing the emergency. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus concurred with the committee's evaluation.
"Almost 90% fewer mpox cases were reported in the past 3 months, compared with the previous three months. In particular, the work of community organizations, together with public health authorities, has been critical for informing people of the risks of mpox, encouraging and supporting behaviour change, and advocating for access to tests, vaccines and treatments to be accessible to those most in need," Dr Tedros stated.
He further stated that countries should maintain their testing capacities and continue their efforts, assess their risk, quantify their needs to respond, and act promptly.
In July 2022, the World Health Organization declared mpox, formerly referred to as monkeypox, as a global health emergency, recognizing it as an exceptional occurrence that may pose a threat to other countries and demand a collaborative global response.
A PHEIC results in member countries committing to follow WHO's guidelines for handling the crisis. Every nation asserts its own public health crisis with legal significance, one by one. Nations utilize them for the purpose of gathering resources and exempting regulations with the aim of alleviating a difficult situation.
Between January 2022 and April 2023, 111 countries or territories around the world reported over 87,000 confirmed cases of mpox to WHO, resulting in 140 deaths. Over 30,000 instances have been documented in the United States. The number of cases globally has been continuously diminishing over the past few months, primarily due to heightened awareness and the wider distribution of vaccines.
Mpox is a milder form of the smallpox virus, which has now been completely eliminated. This illness is endemic to specific regions in West and Central Africa and is often transmitted from a small mammal or rodent.
The virus has the tendency to transmit by means of encountering bodily fluids, wounds, or materials such as clothing and bedding which have been contaminated with the virus. It is also possible for the infection to be transmitted between individuals via respiratory droplets, often in a close proximity.