The WHO’s Director, Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, expressed during a press conference on Saturday that “I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern”

According to the Director Tedros, the risk of Monkeypox is high in the European region but it is moderate globally and in all region. Presently, over 16,000 cases in 75 countries and territories has been reported and the European region total cases are over 11,000.

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WHO’s Director said that although he was declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment the Monkeypox outbreak is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners.

He further expressed, “That means that this is an outbreak that can be stopped with the right strategies in the right groups”, he explained.

All those countries needs to design and deliver effective information services, and to adopt measures that protect the health, human rights and dignity of affected communities which work closely with communities of men who have sex with men.

“With the tools we have right now, we can stop transmission and bring this outbreak under control”, Tedors emphasized.

The Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations could not reach a consensus about Monkeypox last Thursday, Tedros explained. However, the Committee member’s in support of declaring the emergency expressed that future waves of Monkeypox cases are expected as the virus will be introduced in additional susceptible populations, and that the current magnitude of the outbreak might be underestimated.

The WHO also issued some recommendations in order to combat the Monkeypox outbreak.

That includes implementation of coordinated response to uproot the transmission and protect the vulnerable groups. Strengthening clinical management and infection prevention, intensifying surveillance and public health measures along with accelerating research and use of vaccines are also included.

A live data dashboard for the outbreak, the WHO has also launched.

Link: https://extranet.who.int/publicemergency

Source Internet: Monkeypox declared a global health emergency by the World Health Organization