Monkeypox: World Health Organisation declares global health emergency

The monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries has been declared a “global health emergency” by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus issued the declartion despite a lack of consensus among members of the organisation’s emergency committee.

Last month, the panal said the outbreak did not yet amount to an international emergency, but the committee convened this week to re-evaluate the situation.

“In short, we have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly through new modes of transmission about which we understand too little and which meets the criteria in the international health regulations,” Tedros said.

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