There has been a significant decline in the number of reported cases compared to the previous reporting period and no changes in mpox’s severity and clinical manifestation
Photo: @DrTedros / Twitter The director-general of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, declared that mpox was no longer a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) on May 11, 2023.
The announcement came a day after the fifth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee.
“Yesterday, the emergency committee for mpox met and recommended to me that the outbreak no longer represents a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice, and am pleased to declare that mpox is no longer a global health emergency,” Ghebreyesus tweeted on May 11.
It was in May last year that several countries like the United States, Canada, Australia, Portugal, Spain, Italy, France, Belgium, United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden, had reported more than 100 confirmed or suspected mpox cases.
It was first identified in monkeys in 1958, while the first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In November last year, the disease’s name was changed by WHO from ‘monkeypox’ to ‘mpox’ to reduce racial and sexual stigma surrounding it. The disease does not spread easily between humans and requires “contact and droplet exposure via exhaled large droplets,” according to the WHO.
“The Emergency Committee acknowledged the progress made in the global response to the multi-country outbreak of mpox and the further decline in the number of reported cases since the last meeting,” a statement by WHO read.
It added that there had been “a significant decline in the number of reported cases compared to the previous reporting period and no changes in the severity and clinical manifestation of the disease”.
There are uncertainties about the disease, regarding modes of transmission in some countries, poor quality of some reported data, and continued lack of effective counter measures in African countries, where mpox occurs regularly.
“The Committee considered, however, that these are long-term challenges that would be better addressed through sustained efforts in a transition towards a long-term strategy to manage the public health risks posed by mpox, rather than the emergency measures inherent to a PHEIC,” the statement noted.
The panel also stressed the integration of mpox prevention, preparedness and response within national surveillance and control programmes, including for HIV and other sexually transmissible infections, as an important element of this longer-term transition.
The scaling down of the PHEIC regarding mpox comes within days of the one on COVID-19 on May 5, 2023.
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