Against the advice of its expert committee, the WHO issued its highest level of alert on Saturday to try to stem the rise in cases of monkeypox, which has affected nearly 17,000 people in 74 countries, a announced its general manager Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
“For the second time in two years, the World Health Organization has taken the rare step of declaring a global emergency”notice the New York Times.
“I have decided to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.“, said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus during a press briefing, specifying that the risk in the world was relatively moderate apart from Europe where it is high. He also clarified that at present, “this outbreak is concentrated among men who have sex with men, and particularly those with multiple partners, meaning it can be stopped with the right strategies in the right group“.
This decision taken by Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was however not unanimous among the WHO expert committee, which failed to reach a consensus. “Nine members were opposed to such a declaration and six in favor”specified the director general of the WHO who ended up “take the unusual step of ignoring the advice of the committee”explains the Washington Post.
On Twitter, like Doctor Eli David, Internet users did not fail to deride this unilateral decision by the head of the WHO to declare a state of emergency while his own panel of experts was pronounced against such a measure.
???? WHO’s own expert panel voted 9–6 AGAINST emergency declaration for monkeypox.
WHO chief overruled the panel and decided to declare emergency ???? pic.twitter.com/tcm2U0eiTy
— Dr. Eli David (@DrEliDavid) July 23, 2022