WHO director general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus on Saturday overruled his advisers and declared it a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
WHO defines a PHEIC as "an extraordinary event" that constitutes a "public health risk to other states through the international spread of disease" and "to potentially require a coordinated international response."
Kenya's Ministry of Health says no case of monkeypox has been reported in the country.
Pathologist Ahmed Kalebi complained the Ministry of Health has not produced any education materials on the disease, despite the threat.
“Our Ministry of Health is completely silent on monkeypox, with not a single mention of the disease on their website health.go.ke or Twitter page, not even guidelines on clinical diagnosis and testing for our medics and the Kenyan general public,” he said.
He said a doctor from the Coast contacted him inquiring what to do with a patient suspected to have possible monkeypox, asking for assistance for diagnostic testing and confirmation.
“I didn’t have any information at hand from MoH and upon searching I couldn’t find any,” Dr Kalebi said.
On Saturday, the committee that advises the WHO boss did not reach a consensus regarding the determination of monkeypox as a PHEIC.
“The committee was unable to reach a consensus on whether the outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” Dr Tedros said in a statement.
He said the outbreak has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which the world understands too little, and which meets the criteria in the International Health Regulations.
“For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern,” he said.
The majority of reported cases of monkeypox currently are in males, and most of these cases occur among males who identified themselves as gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (MSM), in urban areas, and are clustered in social and sexual networks in Europe and the United States.
Early reports of children affected include a few with no known epidemiological link to other cases.
There has also been a significant rise in the number of cases in countries in West and Central Africa, with an apparent difference in the demographic profile maintained than that observed in Europe and the Americas, with more women and children amongst the cases.
The clinical presentation of monkeypox occurring in outbreaks outside Africa is generally that of a self-limited disease, often atypical to cases described in previous outbreaks, with rash lesions localised to the genital, and mouth.
“Although I am declaring a public health emergency of international concern, for the moment this is an outbreak that is concentrated among men who have sex with men, especially those with multiple sexual partners,” Dr Tedros said.
A small number of cases have been reported among health workers. Investigations so far have not identified cases of occupational transmission, although investigations are ongoing.
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