WHO says mpox remains an international public health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday that the widespread mpox (monkeypox) epidemic remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Last July, WHO officially declared that mpox epidemics outside of traditional endemic areas in Africa had already turned into a PHEIC, the highest level of alert the World Health Organization can issue.

In a statement Wednesday, WHO said its experts acknowledged progress in the global response to the mpox outbreak and a further decline in the number of reported cases over the past few months.

However, some countries continue to have persistent case rates, and other regions may be under-reporting confirmed cases. Therefore, the WHO Expert Committee and WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus argue that mpox remains an international public health emergency.

According to the latest WHO statistics, the current global risk of mpox outbreaks is assessed as moderate and has declined to moderate to low in the Southeast Asian region. It also remains low in the Western Pacific region.

Meanwhile, WHO said its preparedness and response plan for the mpox outbreak, which began in July 2022 to guide coordinated public health action, will end in June 2023.

Case numbers have stabilized in recent weeks in the two WHO regions of Europe and the Americas, which have reported 95% of diagnosed cases.

As of 3 February, 43 countries and territories had no new cases detected in the past three months, the WHO European Region reported. The Americas region has also reported a steady number of cases over the past six weeks, with 200 to 250 cases reported per week.