The World Health Organization said it has ended a 10-month global health emergency over monkeypox, a viral disease that has confirmed cases in more than 100 countries.
In July 2022, the organization declared monkeypox to be a public health emergency of international concern, and confirmed its position in November.
And the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced the end of the state of emergency for the disease, based on the recommendation of the organization’s emergency committee, which met on Wednesday.
The move indicates that the crisis caused by the disease, which is transmitted through direct contact with bodily fluids and causes flu-like symptoms as well as rashes, is under control.
There is a need to move to a strategy to manage the long-term public health risks of monkeypox rather than relying on emergency measures, said Nicola Lu, deputy chair of the WHO’s Emergency Committee on Monkeypox.
Lu said that shift meant bringing monkeypox management and preparedness into national disease surveillance programs, like those for HIV and other sexually transmitted infections.
The director of the World Health Organization said that the number of reported cases during the past three months is about 90 percent lower than the number in the previous three months.
And the latest report of the World Health Organization showed that more than 87,000 cases of monkeypox were confirmed worldwide from the beginning of 2022 until May 8 of this year.
The organization said it was particularly concerned about African countries that were dealing with monkeypox long before the global outbreak of the disease began, and may continue to deal with it for some time.
The organization also recently declared an end to the COVID-19 public health emergency.
“While the emergencies of monkeypox and COVID-19 have ended, the risk of new waves of both remains. The two viruses continue to spread and claim lives,” Tedros said.
