Sunday, July 24, 2022

W.H.O. Declares Monkeypox Spread a Global Health Emergency

THE NEW YORK TIMES: There have been more than 16,000 cases in 75 countries, overwhelmingly among men who have sex with men.


Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the director general of the World Health Organization, declared monkeypox a “public health emergency of international concern” after a panel of advisers could not reach a consensus. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images

For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has taken the extraordinary step of declaring a global emergency. This time the cause is monkeypox, which has spread in just a few weeks to dozens of countries and infected tens of thousands of people.

Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the W.H.O.’s director general, on Saturday overruled a panel of advisers, who could not come to a consensus, and declared a “public health emergency of international concern,” a designation the W.H.O. currently uses to describe only two other diseases, Covid-19 and polio.

“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little, and which meets the criteria” for a public health emergency, Dr. Tedros told reporters. It was apparently the first time that the director general had sidestepped his advisers to declare an emergency. » | Apoorva Mandavilli * | Saturday, July 23, 2022

Apoorva Mandavilli has covered the 2022 monkeypox outbreak since the first case in the United States was identified.