Monkeypox Has Been Declared A Global Emergency So Here’s What That Means

The World Health Organisation has declared the monkeypox outbreak a global emergency — so basically, the health equivalent of a pilot flying a plane and shouting: “Mayday!” into the radio. It’s the seventh time the WHO has made such a declaration since 2009, when swine flu took the world by storm. Most recently, the agency declared COVID-19 to be a public health emergency of international concern — or PHEIC — in 2020. So, should we be freaking out?

What is a PHEIC?

Per the WHO

What is monkeypox?

Department of HealthBBC

What are the symptoms?

NSW Health

How do you catch monkeypox?

WHO

Why has monkeypox been declared a global emergency?

BREAKING:
"For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global #monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern."-@DrTedros pic.twitter.com/qvmYX1ZBAL

— World Health Organization (WHO) (@WHO) July 23, 2022

The GuardianDrTedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus

In light of the evolving #monkeypox outbreak with over 16,000 reported cases from 75 countries & territories, I reconvened the emergency committee. Based on the Intl. Health Regulations criteria, I decided to declare this outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Intl. Concern. https://t.co/jtSj4pZTvl

— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros) July 23, 2022

Has monkeypox been found in Australia?

Is there a vaccine on the way?

HealthDirectAustralian Technical Advisory Group on Immunisation

Is there, as they say, discourse surrounding monkeypox?

Gregg Gonsalves New York TimesABCDr Rosamund LewisThe Associated Press

Wait are they trying to turn monkeypox into an AIDS-type gaybashing moral panic? Alright I’m gonna log off https://t.co/E1WtajkwXl

— Natalie Wynn (@ContraPoints) July 23, 2022

this monkeypox breakout is going to be very ugly when it "suddenly" explodes into the general population. the messaging around it currently is horrendously irresponsible. painting it as an sti that affects queer men is going to lead some very dark places that we have seen before.

— excessively black (@afrodesiaq) July 20, 2022

ABC

“When a disease affects developing countries, it is not an emergency,” acting director of the Institut Pasteur in Bangui, Emmanuel Nakoune, told the ABC.

“It only becomes an emergency when developed countries are affected.”

Wait, so experts have been raising the alarm about monkeypox for years due to outbreaks in central and west Africa and their warnings went unheeded, but now Europeans and USians are being infected so finally resources are being mobilized and funding redirected?

Got it!

— uché blackstock, md (@uche_blackstock) July 23, 2022

After all that: should we be freaking out?

Peter CollignonThe Guardian

“If you look at the numbers, it’s not exploding like a respiratory virus, so this is very different to Covid and contact-tracing is easier. But we will see more numbers and that’s why we need to diagnose the cases quickly.”

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