In the face of the severe outbreak of monkeypox, the WHO declared an international state of emergency

This Wednesday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a state of public health emergency with a likelihood of international spread, due to the concerning outbreak of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of Congo, as it has quickly spread to at least 13 countries in the African region.

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, director-general of the UN health agency, indicated in a press conference that on August 14th, "the emergency committee met and informed me that, in their opinion, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I accepted that recommendation. It is a situation that should concern us all."

Second consecutive year that the WHO makes such declaration for the disease

In May of 2023, the international health entity declared a state of emergency due to the situation related to monkeypox, as by then it had managed to spread to other parts of the world, such as Europe and even had an impact on North America.

The WHO stated that this time the outbreaks are not a result of the circulation of the same virus variant, but of more than one. It also said that different levels of risk and contagion were observed, whereas two years ago the transmission was almost exclusively through sexual contact.

Originally called Mpox, a total of 38,465 cases were reported in 16 African countries since January 2022, leaving the alarming figure of 1,456 deaths. In addition, there was a 160% increase in cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data published last week by Africa CDC.