Is Biden ready to follow WHO and declare monkeypox a national health emergency?

Expecting more monkeypox cases to emerge in the US, The White House is working on naming a monkeypox coordinator.

Sources have said The White House is going to name a coordinator, but they have not yet settled on an individual to help coordinate the response to the outbreak, CNN confirmed on Tuesday, July 26.

Since early May 2022, cases of monkeypox have been reported from countries where the disease is not endemic, and continue to be reported in several endemic countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said that most of the confirmed cases with travel history reportedly travelled to countries in Europe and North America, rather than West or Central Africa where the monkeypox virus is endemic.

This is the first time that many monkeypox cases and clusters have been reported concurrently in non-endemic and endemic countries in widely disparate geographical areas.

Most reported cases so far have been identified through sexual health or other health services in primary or secondary health-care facilities and have involved mainly, but not exclusively, men who have sex with men.

The WHO is currently collaborating with health authorities to prevent the further spread of the disease.

The WHO confirmed: “We are issuing guidance to help countries on surveillance, laboratory work, clinical care, infection prevention and control, as well as risk communication and community engagement to inform communities at risk and the broader general public about monkeypox and how to keep safe.”