The World Health Organization said Thursday it would reconvene its expert monkeypox committee on July 21 to decide whether the outbreak constitutes a global health emergency.
WHO to reconvene monkeypox emergency panel on July 21
FROM FRANCE 24: A second meeting of the WHO’s emergency committee on monkeypox will be held, with the UN health agency now aware of 9,200 cases in 63 countries at the last update issued Tuesday. A surge in monkeypox infections has been reported since early May outside the West and Central African countries where the disease has long been endemic.
On June 23, the WHO convened an emergency committee of experts to decide if monkeypox constitutes a so-called Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) — the highest alarm that the WHO can sound. But a majority advised the WHO’s chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus that the situation, at that point, had not met that threshold.
Now a second meeting will be held, with case numbers rising.
“The emergency committee will provide its views to the WHO director general on whether the event constitutes a PHEIC,” the UN health agency said in a statement. “If so, it will propose temporary recommendations on how to better prevent and reduce the spread of the disease and manage the global public health response.”
A statement will be issued in the days following the meeting.
Most monkeypox infections so far have been observed in men who have sex with men, of young age and chiefly in urban areas, according to the WHO. The committee will look at trends, how effective the counter-measures are and make recommendations for what countries and communities should do to tackle the outbreak, Tedros told a press conference on Tuesday.
He said the WHO was working closely with civil society and the LGBTQ community, “especially to tackle the stigma around the virus” and spread information to help people stay safe.
“WHO continues to work with countries and vaccine manufacturers to coordinate the sharing of vaccines, which are currently scarce,” he added.
The Geneva-based organisation is also working with countries and experts to drive forward research and development.
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