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Monkeypox: How a public emergency could be declared

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Nicolas Camut, Agence France-Presse

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img alt="A medical worker gets a vaccine against monkeypox from her colleague at the National Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, June 27, 2022, as such vaccination for medical workers began in the country. EPA-EFE/Yonhap" src="https://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2022/overseas/07/21/20220721-monkeypox-vax-epa.jpg"/><figcaption>A medical worker gets a vaccine against monkeypox from her colleague at the National Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea, June 27, 2022, as such vaccination for medical workers began in the country. <em>EPA-EFE/Yonhap</em></figcaption></figure></div><p>GENEVA — The World Health Organization&#x27;s expert monkeypox committee will meet on Thursday to decide whether to deploy the UN health agency&#x27;s rarely used top alert for the worsening virus outbreak.</p><p>The WHO could declare the situation to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/spotlight/07/21/22/monkeypox-from-beginnings-in-africa-to-global-spread">Monkeypox: From beginnings in Africa to global spread</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/07/21/22/who-to-decide-on-sounding-highest-alarm-on-monkeypox">WHO to decide on sounding highest alarm on monkeypox</a></li></ul><p>Here is a look at how the decision is made and previous PHEIC declarations:</p><div><strong>WHAT IS A PHEIC? </strong></div><p>The conditions which must be met are set out under the 2005 International Health Regulations (IHR) -- the legal framework defining countries&#x27; rights and obligations in handling public health events that could cross borders.</p><p>A PHEIC is defined in the regulations as &quot;an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response&quot;.</p><p>The definition implies that the situation is serious, sudden, unusual or unexpected; carries implications for public health beyond an affected country&#x27;s border; and may require immediate international action.</p><div><strong>EMERGENCY COMMITTEE </strong></div><p>The WHO&#x27;s 16-member emergency committee on monkeypox is chaired by Jean-Marie Okwo-Bele from the Democratic Republic of Congo, who is a former director of the WHO&#x27;s Vaccines and Immunization Department.</p><p>The committee brings together virologists, vaccinologists, epidemiologists and experts in the fight against major diseases. </p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/07/14/22/ny-stresses-monkeypox-vaccine-urgency-as-cases-rise">New York stresses monkeypox vaccine ‘urgency’, as cases rise</a></li></ul><p>It is co-chaired by Nicola Low, an associate professor of epidemiology and public health medicine from Bern University.</p><p>The other 14 members are from institutions in Brazil, Britain, Japan, Morocco, Nigeria, Russia, Senegal, Switzerland, Thailand and the United States.</p><p>Eight advisers from Canada, the DRC, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States also take part in the meetings.</p><div><strong>Decision </strong></div><p>The emergency committee will provide WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus with a PHEIC recommendation, and an assessment of the risk to human health, the risk of international spread and the risk of interference with international traffic.</p><p>Tedros will then make the final determination on whether a PHEIC should be declared, based on their advice.</p><div><strong>6 PREVIOUS PHEICS </strong></div><p>The WHO has previously declared a PHEIC 6 times:</p><div><strong>-- 2009: H1N1 swine flu</strong></div><p>The pandemic was first detected in Mexico and then quickly spread across the United States and the rest of the world.</p><div><strong>-- May 2014: Poliovirus</strong></div><p>Declared following a rise in cases of wild polio and circulating vaccine-derived poliovirus. Besides Covid, it is the only PHEIC still in place.</p><div><strong>-- August 2014: Ebola</strong></div><p>Outbreak in western Africa which spread to Europe and the United States.</p><div><strong>-- February 2016: Zika virus</strong></div><p>The epidemic began in Brazil and heavily affected the Americas. The only PHEIC declared over a mosquito-borne virus.</p><div><strong>-- July 2019: Ebola</strong></div><p>The second Ebola PHEIC was over the outbreak in Kivu in eastern DRC.</p><div><strong>-- January 2020: COVID-19</strong></div><p>Declared when -- outside of China where the virus first emerged -- there were fewer than 100 cases and no deaths.</p><div><strong>COVID-19 frustrations </strong></div><p>The COVID-19 PHEIC declaration came after a third meeting of the emergency committee on the spreading virus. Meetings on January 22 and 23, 2020 decided that the outbreak did not constitute a PHEIC.</p><p>Despite the declaration, it was only after March 11, when Tedros described the rapidly worsening situation as a pandemic, that many countries seemed to wake up to the danger.</p><p>The sluggish global response still rankles at the WHO&#x27;s headquarters and raised questions about whether the PHEIC system under the IHR was fit for purpose.</p><p>By March 11, the number of cases outside China had soared, with more than 118,000 people having caught the disease in 114 countries, and 4,291 people having lost their lives, following a jump in deaths in Italy and Iran.</p><p>&quot;The warning in January was way more important than the announcement in March,&quot; WHO emergencies director Michael Ryan said on the second anniversary of the pandemic declaration.</p><p>&quot;People weren&#x27;t listening. We were ringing the bell and people weren&#x27;t acting.</p><p>&quot;Do you want the warning to say you&#x27;ve just drowned, or would you like the warning to say the flood is coming?&quot;</p><ul class="op-related-articles">	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/07/19/22/vulnerable-sectors-high-risk-of-contracting-monkeypox-expert">Vulnerable sectors at &#x27;high risk&#x27; of contracting monkeypox: expert</a></li>	<li><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/overseas/07/02/22/who-calls-for-urgent-action-in-europe-over-monkeypox">WHO calls for ‘urgent’ action in Europe over monkeypox</a></li></ul><div><strong>© Agence France-Presse</strong></div><div><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TtX_25K-aTw?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more News on <a href="https://www.iwanttfc.com/#!/browse/Genres/News/tag_id_genres/id_news" target="_blank">iWantTFC</a></div>

The WHO could declare the situation to be a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).

Monkeypox: How a public emergency could be declared

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Monkeypox: How a public emergency could be declared

Nicolas Camut,

Agence France-Presse

Published Jul 21, 2022 02:29 PM PHT

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WHO

World Health Organization

Public Health Emergency of International Concern

PHEIC

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