A global concern

Raising awareness: Monkeypox may not be the killer that Covid was before vaccines, but the often-painful virus is spreading and needs a more robust response. –123rf.com

THE World Health Organisation had a hard time deciding whether to label monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) or not. That’s a rare designation, given to Covid-19 and a handful of other diseases such as swine flu in 2009, polio in 2014 and Ebola (twice). It carries binding legal commitments for member nations to act.

A majority of the WHO’s Emergency Committee, however, was unconvinced that monkeypox qualified. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who came under criticism for being slow to declare Covid-19 a pandemic and too deferential to China, cast the deciding vote. With a rising number of monkeypox cases around the world – some 16,000 have now been reported in 75 countries – the WHO chief clearly wanted to err on the side of caution.