WHO: Mpox no longer global emergency

Geneva: The World Health Organisation no longer considers the mpox

outbreak in Africa to be an international health emergency, the UN agency’s director said Friday.

The new form of mpox emerged in early 2024 in Congo and neighbouring African countries, spread through close contact including sex.

WHO declared it a global health emergency in August of last year.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters Friday that an emergency panel created after the outbreak has advised that the situation is no longer an international emergency, and “I have accepted that advice”.

WHO’s international emergency declaration, the agency’s highest level

of warning about threatening health issues, triggers the release of resources and enhanced public awareness campaigns among other measures.

“Of course, lifting the emergency declaration does not mean the threat is over, nor that our response will stop,” the WHO chief said.

Mpox is a rare disease caused by infection with a virus that’s in the same family as the one that causes smallpox.

It is endemic in parts of Africa, where people have been infected through bites from rodents or small animals.

Milder symptoms can include fever, chills and body aches. agencies