Its Emergency Committee, however, asks for more international collaboration in the face of an outbreak that is considered atypical because it appears in countries where the virus had not circulated before.
The World Health Organization (WHO) ruled out this Saturday that the outbreaks of the so-called monkeypox detected in several Western countries in recent weeks constitute an international emergency. In this sense, the general director of this organization, Tedros Adhanom Gebreyesus, has accepted the recommendation of its Emergency Committee, after having analyzed the situation and considered that “currently, it does not constitute a Public Health Emergency of International Concern”.
The Committee has discussed the current epidemiological situation, as well as the evaluation of vaccination strategies implemented in certain countries in response to the outbreak, or their availability and accessibility. Following this, he has called for greater international collaborative efforts against monkeypox.
In any case, experts consider that it is an atypical outbreak, due to the appearance of cases in countries where the circulation of the virus had not been previously documented. And although they do not estimate for now that it constitutes an international emergency, the researchers do advise that its evolution be monitored and reviewed to determine if there are significant changes that may vary the measures taken by national and international health authorities.
“Avoid stigmatization”
According to a statement published by the WHO this Saturday, “the Committee was concerned about the possibility of exacerbating stigmatization and the violation of Human Rights.” And among them he expressly cites “the rights to privacy, non-discrimination and physical and mental health, of the affected population groups.”
To date, the epidemiological situation regarding monkeypox places the transmission of this virus at 3,040 cases distributed in 47 countries, according to the latest data sent to the WHO. “Transmission is occurring in many countries that have not previously reported cases of monkeypox and the highest numbers are currently being reported in countries that are part of the European continent,” the organization adds.
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