The World Health Organization (WHO) director-general on Thursday declared the end of the international public health emergency for Mpox disease, the highest alert level in place since July 2022.
“Yesterday [quarta-feira] the emergency committee met and told me that the Mpox outbreak in multiple countries no longer represents an international public health emergency. I took that advice to heart,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.
Despite the lifting of the maximum alert level, the disease, formerly known as Monkeypox, continues to pose “major challenges that require a robust, proactive and sustainable response,” he said.
A total of more than 87,000 cases and 140 deaths have been reported to WHO from 111 countries, according to WHO.
“As with covid-19, the work is not over yet,” the organization’s head warned, adding that despite the number of cases worldwide falling by almost 90% in the past three months, the virus is still affects communities in all regions, including Africa, where transmission “is still not well understood”.
In addition, travel-related infections remain a threat and “there is a particular risk for untreated people with HIV infection,” emphasizes Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The WHO Director-General also championed the importance of countries maintaining their testing capacity, recommending the integration of Mpox prevention and treatment into existing health programs to enable access to health care and rapid response in case of outbreaks .
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus’ decision follows Wednesday’s meeting of experts on the organization’s Emergency Committee that was tasked with assessing whether Mpox should still be considered an international public health emergency (PHEIC). ).
About a year ago, the WHO began receiving the first reports of cases of infection in countries on the European and American continents, and in July 2022, the Director General declared the outbreak PHEIC.
According to the latest data from the Directorate General of Health, from May 3, 2022 to April 28, 2023, 953 cases of Mpox virus infection were confirmed in Portugal, with no new cases reported since the previous monthly information.
According to the DGS, the most common symptoms of the disease are fever, severe headache, muscle pain, back pain, fatigue, enlarged lymph nodes with progressive outbreaks affecting the skin and mucous membranes.
PHEIC is defined as “an extraordinary, serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected event” that has public health implications beyond the national border of an affected state and that may require immediate international action.
This was the seventh time WHO declared an international emergency (mechanism initiated in 2005), having done so for Influenza A in 2009, for Ebola in 2014 and 2018, for Poliomyelitis in 2014, for Zika virus in 2017 and for the coronavirus causing covid-19 in 2020, the latter was doing the rounds last week.
Source: DN
