WHO ends public health emergency designation for mpox

On 11 May 2023 the World Health Organization declared that the 2022-23 mpox epidemic was no longer a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). The decision, which followed the same announcement for covid-19 by only six days, is perhaps unsurprising; in most places new cases have tapered off, thanks to rapid vaccination and information campaigns.1 A handful of countries have experienced recent rises in transmission, raising mild concern but not enough to change the WHO’s decision. In one sense, this is business as usual: these decisions are typical for the epidemiological evolution of an outbreak—and, more cynically, for the cycle of panic and neglect that defines global health.In another sense, however, this decision differs slightly from how previous PHEICs have been handled. The mpox emergency is the second shortest of the seven ever declared, lasting one day longer than the Zika virus emergency in 2016.2 Furthermore, the PHEIC has…
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