WHO Declares Mpox Outbreak A Global Health Emergency

The World Health Organization has on Wednesday, 14th of August, 2024 declared the ongoing mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency.

According to CNN, WHO convened its emergency mpox committee amid concerns that a deadlier strain of the virus, clade Ib, had reached four previously unaffected provinces in Africa. This strain had previously been contained to the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Independent experts on the committee met virtually Wednesday to advise WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on the severity of the outbreak. After that consultation, he announced Wednesday that he had declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern — the highest level of alarm under international health law.

Also known as PHEIC, this is a status given by WHO to “extraordinary events” that pose a public health risk to other countries through the international spread of disease.

The African Centre for Disease Control had previously on August 13th declared the Mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS), marking the first such declaration by the agency since its inception in 2017.

Mpox, formerly known as Monkey Pox is an infectious viral disease that can occur in humans and other animals. Symptoms include a rash that forms blisters and then crusts over, fever, and swollen lymph nodes.