Deeming the spread of monkeypox “unusual and worrying”, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced on Tuesday June 14 through the voice of its Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, that it will convene a meeting on June 23 of its emergency committee to assess whether this virus constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern”, reports Le Point. “The situation requires a coordinated response,” he said at a press conference.
Two weeks after calling not to worry, WHO is concerned
A speech that contrasts with the words of the international health agency made on May 27 during a presentation on the spread considered “unusual” of the virus, during the World Health Assembly in Geneva. If she predicted an increase in the number of cases “in the days to come”, Sylvie Briand, director of the WHO’s global infectious risk preparedness department, nevertheless considered that “this is not a disease of which the general public should to worry “.
See also: For WHO, monkeypox “is not a disease the general public should worry about”
Since the beginning of May, more than 1,600 confirmed cases have been detected in 39 countries, including 32 where the disease is not endemic – and where no death has yet been recorded. Existing for millennia, recovering most of the time spontaneously, monkeypox disease is a cousin of human smallpox with the notable difference that its mortality rate and its level of transmission to humans are very low, recalled on June 6, Professor Christian Perronne, former head of the infectious and tropical diseases department at Garches hospital, who also held responsibilities in working groups at the National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM) and the WHO.
WHO recommends screening and isolation of contact cases
Again, the WHO intends to call on “international experts”, whose selection process is controversial, in order to “better understand” monkeypox. The United Nations agency is also considering “changing the name of the virus”, said Dr Tedros, promising “announcements as soon as possible” on this subject.
According to him, in order to “contain the transmission and stop the epidemic”, the different countries must use “proven” means such as “surveillance, contact tracing and isolation of infected patients”.
As a reminder, a legally binding legal text for the Member States is currently under study within the WHO bodies, the purpose of which is to strengthen the role of the health agency in the management of pandemics in the planetary scale. Better known as the “pandemic treaty”, this bill has been described as “liberticidal and undemocratic” by the International Alliance for Justice and Democracy, in partnership with the association Children’s Health Defense , founded by lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr, at a press conference on May 28 in Geneva, the closing day of the 75th World Health Assembly.
See also: The WHO treaty on pandemics, a “liberticidal and anti-democratic” project dissected by the International Alliance for Justice and Democracy