The World Health Organization has declared that Mpox is no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).
The WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, made the declaration on Thursday at the 15th International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland.
“Yesterday, the emergency committee for Mpox met and recommend to me that a multi-country outbreak of pox no longer represents a public health of emergency of international concern.
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“I have accepted that advice, and am pleased to declare that mpox is no longer a global health emergency” he said.
In July last year, WHO declared Mpox a public health emergency of international concern over the multi-country outbreak of the virus as it spread rapidly across the world.
WHO defines Mpox, formerly called Mmonkeypox, as an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. The virus can cause painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever. Most people fully recover but some get very sick.
It spreads from contact with infected persons, through touch, kissing, sex, contact with infected animals, or materials, such as contaminated sheets, clothes or needles, etc.
Tedros said the job of managing mpox is not over, saying it continues to pose significant public health challenges.
“While we welcome the downward trend of mpox cases globally, the virus continues to affect communities in all region, including in Africa, where transmission is still not well understood,” he said.
The WHO recorded more than 1500 confirmed cases in 13 countries since January 2022, with the majority of cases coming from Nigeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
It said that there was limited knowledge of transmission methods and that the quality of the data given by the surveillance systems in the African Region was inconsistent.
It was stated that the current worldwide risk of the multi-country mpox outbreak is estimated to be low in South-East Asia and the Western Pacific Regions and moderate everywhere else.
The WHO boss said it is very important for countries of the world to maintain their testing capacities and to put more efforts toward assessing the risks and responding promptly when need arises.
WHO had similarly announced the end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern after three year of being declared a global health threat.
The global health organization said more than 87,000 mpox cases and 140 deaths have been reported from 111 countries.