On Saturday, the World Health Organization formally proclaimed the monkeypox epidemic a worldwide health emergency.
The international health organization reported that it raised the monkeypox outbreak to the highest degree of notice, designating it as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.
According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, monkeypox is an uncommon viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e., an infection spread from animals to humans) that is endemic in regions in and close to tropical rainforests in Central and West Africa.
“It is caused by the Monkeypox virus which belongs to the same Orthopoxviral genus and Poxviridae family of viruses as the Variola virus (Smallpox virus), the Vaccinia virus (used in smallpox vaccine for eradication programme), and the cowpox virus (used in earlier generations of smallpox vaccines) and some other viruses.
Tedros Ghebreyesus, the director-general of WHO, stated in a press conference that the decision was made due to an increase in monkeypox cases.
“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” Tedros said. “For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global Monkeypox outbreak represents a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”
More than 70 countries have recorded 16,000 instances of monkeypox worldwide so far this year, and the number of confirmed illnesses increased by 77% from late June to early July, according to data from the WHO.
The NCDC reported that reports from Nigeria indicated 101 cases of monkeypox in 2022, the highest number since the disease’s resurgence in 2017.
