The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus announced the measure amid an mpox upsurge in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of African countries.
Dr Tedros’s declaration came on the advice of an International Health Regulations Emergency Committee of independent experts.
The Committee met to review data presented by experts from WHO and affected countries.
The group informed the Director-General that it considered the mpox upsurge to be a PHEIC, with the potential to spread further across Africa and possibly outside the continent.
According to the WHO, the latest PHEIC determination is the second in two years relating to mpox.
Caused by an Orthopoxvirus, mpox was first detected in humans in 1970, in the DRC.
The disease is considered endemic to countries in Central and West Africa.
In July 2022, the WHO declared the multi-country outbreak of mpox a PHEIC.
At the time, the disease had spread rapidly via sexual contact across a range of countries that had not seen the virus before.
The WHO declared that PHEIC was over in May 2023 after a sustained decline in global cases.
Mpox transmission occurs through close contact, such as sex, skin-to-skin contact, and talking or breathing close to another person.
It causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions and can be fatal, with four in 100 cases leading to death.
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