The WHO has two initial goals for monkeypox. The goal of a PHEIC designation is to prevent an emerging disease from becoming a global health crisis. However, Director-General Tedros opted to go ahead and declare monkeypox a PHEIC.
The vote from the emergency committee was split – nine against and six for PHEIC status.
Others worried that a PHEIC designation could further stigmatize LGBTQ communities because most cases thus far have been diagnosed among men who have sex with men. Some members questioned whether a disease that has a low case fatality rate should be a PHEIC. However, the committee was not in unanimous agreement that a public health emergency of international concern should be declared. Furthermore, it agreed that there were aspects of the situation that were “extraordinary” – a vague term that is not defined in the International Health Regulations. Also, the committee expressed concerns about whether vaccines would be priced reasonably and distributed equitably in the absence of a coordinated international response. The rapid spread of the virus to more than 70 countries was strong evidence of the risk of further international spread. After the monkeypox emergency committee met for the second time, on July 21, 2022, it released a report stating that “the multi-country outbreak of monkeypox meets all the three criteria defining a PHEIC.” Why is monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern?Īlthough the director-general of the WHO is the only person who can declare a PHEIC, the decision is based on advice from the designated emergency committee. While all of these events were noteworthy, only the coronavirus pandemic became a worldwide catastrophe. Under the current regulations, a “public health emergency of international concern” – often abbreviated as a PHEIC – can be declared by the WHO director-general when three criteria are met: the situation is an “extraordinary event,” there is a risk of spread to other countries, and the situation could “potentially require a coordinated international response.”īefore monkeypox, only five diseases had been designated as PHEICs since the WHO started using the term in 2005: the H1N1 influenza pandemic in 2009 polio resurgences in Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan in 2014 the Ebola epidemic in Guinea, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in 2014 and an Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo 2019 the spread of Zika virus in the Americas in 2016 and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The International Health Regulations are a set of rules that guide how the WHO and United Nations member states respond to emerging health threats. Guilhem Vellut/Wikimedia Commons, What is a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC)? The director-general of the World Health Organization has the power to declare an event a public health emergency of international concern.
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