The declaration by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus came on the advice of the International Health Regulations (IHR), an emergency committee of independent experts who met earlier on Wednesday to review data presented by experts from WHO and affected countries.
The WHO chief revealed that the Committee informed him about an upsurge of mpox constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), with potential to spread further across countries in Africa and possibly outside the continent.
The World Health Organization is committed to coordinate the global response to this situation in the coming days and weeks as well as cooperate closely with each of the countries affected by this disease in order to prevent its spread and save people's lives, he said.
The decision was taken after the African Union Health Committee declared a state of public emergency following an outbreak of mpox in some countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Ghebreyesus said that this year, more than 14,000 cases of monkeypox have been identified in Congo, which has led to the death of 524 patients. This statistic is more than the total number of infections and deaths reported last year.
Monkey pox is an infectious disease whose virus is transmitted from infected animals to humans and can also be transmitted by close physical contact between humans.
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