The decision was announced this Friday (Nov 22) by the organization’s general director, Tedros Adhanom
The director-general of the WHO (World Health Organization), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, stated this Friday (22.Nov.2024) that mpox continues to appear as a public health emergency of international importance. In his profile on X, he said that the decision was taken after an emergency committee meeting.
“My decision is based on the growing number and continued geographic dispersion of cases, operational challenges, and the need to mount and sustain a cohesive response across countries and partners”wrote the general director.
“I call on affected countries to intensify their responses and for the solidarity of the international community to help us end the outbreaks”said Tedros.
Understand
In August, the WHO stated that the mpox scenario on the African continent constituted a public health emergency of international importance due to the risk of global spread and a potential new pandemic. This is the entity’s highest alert level.
At the time, speaking to journalists in Geneva, the WHO director-general said that mpox outbreaks have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo for more than a decade and that infections have increased over the past few years.
In July 2022, the entity had declared global emergency status for mpox due to the outbreak of the disease in several countries.
The disease
Mpox is a viral zoonotic disease. Transmission to humans can occur through contact with infected wild animals, people infected with the virus and contaminated materials. Symptoms generally include rashes or skin lesions, swollen lymph nodes (tongues), fever, body aches, headache, chills and weakness.
The lesions may be flat or slightly elevated, filled with clear or yellowish liquid, and may form crusts that dry and fall off. The number of injuries can range from a few to thousands. The rashes tend to be concentrated on the face, palms and soles of the feet, but can occur anywhere on the body, including the mouth, eyes, genitals and anus.
With information from .
