The WHO label — a “public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)” — is designed to trigger a coordinated international response and could free up funding to collaborate on vaccine and treatment sharing.
Members of a committee of experts meeting Thursday to discuss the potential recommendation were divided over the decision, with nine members opposing and six in favor of the statement, prompting Tedros himself to break the deadlock, he told reporters.
“While I declare a public health emergency of international concern, this is currently an outbreak centering among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Tedros told a media briefing in Geneva on Saturday.
“Stigma and discrimination can be as dangerous as any virus.”
He said the risk of monkeypox — which spreads through close contact and tends to cause flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions — was moderate worldwide, except in Europe, where the WHO considers the risk high.
Previously, Tedros typically endorsed recommendations from the committee of experts, but the two sources told Reuters earlier on Saturday that he had likely decided to support the highest alert level due to concerns over the escalating cases and shortages of vaccines and treatments.
So far this year there have been more than 16,000 cases of monkey pox in more than 75 countries and five deaths in Africa so far.
The viral disease has mainly spread among men who have sex with men during the recent outbreak, outside of Africa where it is endemic.
Health experts welcomed WHO’s decision to issue the PHEIC statement, which until now had only been applied to the coronavirus pandemic and ongoing efforts to eradicate polio.
“The correct result is clear — not declaring a state of emergency at this time would be a historic missed opportunity,” said Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law in Washington, DC, who called the decision politically courageous.
The decision should help contain the spread of the viral disease, said Josie Golding, head of epidemics and epidemiology at the Wellcome Trust.
“We can’t afford to keep waiting for diseases to escalate before we intervene,” she said.
MEETING JUNE
The WHO and national governments are under heavy pressure from scientists and public health experts to take more action against monkeypox.
Cases of the viral disease have exploded since the committee first met in late June, when there were only about 3,000 cases.
At the time, the expert group agreed to reconsider their stance on the emergency declaration should the outbreak escalate.
One of the key issues leading to a reassessment was whether the cases would spread to other groups, especially children or others vulnerable to the virus in previous outbreaks in endemic countries.
On Friday, the United States identified the first two cases of monkeypox in children.
WHO officials said on Saturday they were investigating the possibility of the virus spreading through new modes of transmission.