Director General of the Authority Global Health Organization A Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) was declared under the International Health Regulations (IHR) on the advice of the IHR Emergency Committee, composed of independent experts who reviewed data provided by WHO experts and affected countries. The Committee informed the Director-General that it considered the resurgence of smallpox to be a public health emergency of concern with the potential for further spread throughout African countries and possibly beyond the continent.
“The emergence and rapid spread of a new strain of smallpox virus in eastern DRC and the reporting of cases in several neighbouring countries is extremely worrying news,” said Dr Tedros, declaring a public health emergency of international concern. “Together with other strains of smallpox virus circulating in DRC and other African countries, it is clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives.”
“A great deal of effort is being made in close collaboration with communities and governments, and our country teams are on the frontlines helping to scale up measures to stop smallpox,” said Dr Matshidiso Moeti, WHO Regional Director for Africa. “As the virus spreads, we are scaling up our interventions through coordinated international action to help countries end the outbreak.”
“The current resurgence of smallpox in different parts of Africa, coupled with the spread of a new sexually transmitted strain of the virus that causes the disease, constitutes an emergency, not just for Africa,” said the chair of the committee, Professor Demi Ogwenna. “But for the entire planet. The MPOX virus has not received the attention it deserves in Africa, where it originated, and which subsequently caused a global outbreak in 2022. It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself.”
This is the second time in two years that a public health emergency has been declared related to smallpox. The disease, caused by the variola virus, was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The disease is endemic in Central and West Africa.
In July 2022, a multi-country smallpox outbreak was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), as it spread rapidly through sexual contact to a number of countries where the virus had not previously been observed. The PHEIC was declared over in May 2023 after a continued decline in cases worldwide.
“Beeraholic. Friend of animals everywhere. Evil web scholar. Zombie maven.”