World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries is an “exceptional” situation and has become a “global emergency”. Gebresus took the first action of its kind in this classification, despite the lack of consensus among experts serving on the World Health Organization’s Emergency Committee regarding the aforementioned virus, according to the American Associated Press, and confirmed that the decision was made despite the inability of the advisory body agree on a classification.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus also explained that his “decision was decisive, with 9 members of the expert committee against the move and 6 in favor”. He said, “More than 16,000 injuries and 5 deaths have been reported in 75 countries and regions.”
He also pointed out that “according to the World Organization, the risk of developing monkeypox in the world is moderate, with the exception of the European region, where the risk is considered high.”
While the director general of the United Nations World Health Organization said in a statement: “We have a disease that has spread rapidly around the world through new transmission routes that we know very little about.”
Notably, the declaration of a “global emergency” could spur additional investment in the production of treatments and vaccines for a disease that, according to the same source, was once rare, and “global emergency” is the highest level of alert at the World Health Organization. .
disease outbreak
In this regard, the head of the organization’s emergency department, Dr. Michael Ryan, said in a press statement: “The CEO has made this decision so that the current outbreaks of the disease will be taken seriously by the global community.” Notably, on July 7, 2022, the World Health Organization reported that since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 6,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox and three associated deaths worldwide.
In this case, the symptoms of the disease manifest themselves in the form of fever, swollen lymph nodes, muscle pain and sore throat, in addition to fatigue, chills and a chickenpox-like rash on the hands, face, soles of the feet, genitals and other parts of the body. body. Monkeypox was first discovered in 1958 when laboratory monkeys developed a disease similar to smallpox, hence the name.
Division among the members of the organization
It was a state of contention among members of a World Health Organization panel of experts over whether the monkeypox outbreak constituted a global health emergency, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters, while the organization’s director is expected to resolve the matter in the coming months. watch.
The agency indicated that a committee of experts, meeting on Thursday, July 21, 2022, is responsible for advising CEO Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who has the final say in declaring a global health emergency.
In the past, Tedros has always followed the committee’s recommendations, but two sources familiar with the decision-making process, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was seriously considering declaring a state of emergency, although the majority was not in favor. any option because of his sense of urgency in dealing with the disease.
international concern
At the first meeting, held on 23 June 2022, the majority of experts recommended that WHO not declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
Lawrence Gustin, professor of American health law and director of the World Health Organization’s Center for Health Law, tweeted: “Monkeypox is out of control and there is no legal, scientific or medical reason not to declare an international public emergency.” healthcare. “
An unusual rise in monkeypox cases was detected in early May 2022 outside of Central and West Africa, where the virus is normally endemic, and has since spread around the world and is at the epicenter of Europe. Monkeypox, discovered in humans in the 1970s, is considered less dangerous and contagious than smallpox eradicated in the 1980s.
