WHO lifts international health emergency for mpox after decrease in cases

Geneva.- The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced this Friday the lifting of the international health emergency for mpox (monkeypox), declared since August of last year, due to the decrease in cases in affected countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Sierra Leone and Uganda.

“A committee has met every three months to evaluate the epidemic, this Thursday it did so again, it advised me to stop considering it an international emergency and I have accepted the recommendation,” he indicated at a press conference. It was the second international emergency for this viral disease declared by the WHO, after the one it decreed between 2022 and 2023, in that case with numerous cases also in European and American countries, while this time the outbreaks were mainly confined to African nations.

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Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a disease caused by a zoonotic virus that is transmitted through close physical contact with infected people or animals, or with contaminated materials. Symptoms include fever, headache, muscle aches, and a characteristic rash that evolves into scabs.