Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: As the planet is still climbing out of Covid-19, the World Health Organization (WHO) is considering declaring monkeypox as another ‘global health emergency,’ the media reported on Thursday.
The global health watchdog convened an emergency committee meeting on Thursday to consider if the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox, caused by a virus, warrants being declared a global emergency, the reports said.
Until now this year, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has confirmed over 3,300 cases of monkeypox in 42 countries where the virus had not been typically seen earlier. Over 80 percent of these cases are in Europe. Africa has already reported nearly 1,400 cases this year, including 62 deaths.
If the WHO declares monkeypox as a global emergency, it would mean the UN health agency considers the outbreak an ‘extraordinary event’ and that the disease could spread to more countries. It would also give monkeypox the same distinction as the Covid-19 pandemic and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio, the reports said.
Last week, WHO’s Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the recent monkeypox epidemic identified in over 40 countries, mostly in Europe, as unusual and concerning. Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and west Africa, where one version of the disease kills up to 10 percent of people. In the epidemic beyond Africa, so far, no deaths have been reported.
Monkeypox re-emerged in Nigeria in 2017 and affected hundreds of people, said Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist, and a WHO advisor.
Until last month, monkeypox had not caused sizeable outbreaks beyond Africa. Scientists have found no major genetic changes in the virus. Officials linked the spread of monkeypox in Europe in May to sexual activity among gay and bisexual men at two raves in Spain and Belgium.
Scientists warn anyone in close contact with an infected person or their clothing or bedsheets is at risk of infection, regardless of their sexual orientation. People with monkeypox often experience symptoms like fever, body aches, and a rash, but most recover within weeks without needing medical care.
The WHO has proposed creating a vaccine-sharing mechanism to help the affected countries, which could see doses go to rich countries like Britain, which has the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa and recently widened its use of vaccines.
Even if the WHO announces monkeypox is a global emergency, it’s unclear what impact that might have.
In January 2020, the WHO declared Covid-19 as a global emergency. But few countries took notice until March when the health watchdog upgraded it as a pandemic, weeks after many other countries did so. Throughout the pandemic period, the WHO was slammed for its multiple missteps, which some experts said might have prompted it into a quicker monkeypox response.
Having learned a lesson on Covid-19, the WHO is keeping a close watch on monkeypox and declaring it a pandemic if the situation so warrants. This may not rise to the level of a Covid-like emergency, but it is still a public health emergency that needs to be addressed, experts said.
Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist, and vice-chancellor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa said the WHO and others should do more to stop monkeypox in Africa and elsewhere, but wasn’t sure that declaring the disease a global emergency could help.