World Health Organization Declares Monkeypox Global Health Emergency

World Health Organization Declares Monkeypox Global Health Emergency

On Saturday, the World Health Organization formally declared the monkeypox epidemic a worldwide health emergency.

ALSO, READ ‘Monkeypox Not Currently A Global Health Emergency’ Says WHO

The international health organization reported that it raised the monkeypox outbreak to the highest degree of notice, designating it as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, monkeypox is an uncommon viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e., an infection spread from animals to humans) that is endemic in regions in and close to tropical rainforests in Central and West Africa.

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“It is caused by the Monkeypox virus which belongs to the same Orthopoxviral genus and Poxviridae family of viruses as the Variola virus (Smallpox virus), the Vaccinia virus (used in smallpox vaccine for eradication program), and the cowpox virus (used in earlier generations of smallpox vaccines) and some other viruses.

World Health Organization Declares Monkeypox Global Health Emergency

While addressing the press, the WHO Director-General, Tedros Ghebreyesus, noted that the decision came as a result of the rise in cases of the Monkeypox virus.

“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” Tedros said. “For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global Monkeypox outbreak represents a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”

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Globally, no fewer than 16,000 cases of Monkeypox have been reported across more than 70 countries so far this year, and the number of confirmed infections rose 77 percent from late June through early July, according to the WHO data.

Reports from Nigeria, according to the NCDC. confirmed 101 cases of Monkeypox in 2022, its highest figure since 2017 when the disease re-

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