WHO to assess if monkeypox an international health emergency

The World Health Organization (WHO) will hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether monkeypox is an international health emergency.

The World Health Organization said Tuesday it would hold an emergency meeting next week to determine whether to classify the global monkeypox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.

The UN agency is also working to change the name of the disease, which was long confined to Western and Central Africa until more than 1,000 cases were detected in dozens of countries across the world over the last two months.

"The outbreak of monkeypox is unusual and concerning," World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists.

"For that reason, I have decided to convene the Emergency Committee under the international health regulations next week, to assess whether this outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern".

The emergency committee will meet on June 23 to discuss the designation, which is the highest alarm the UN agency can sound.

Tedros added that the "WHO is also working with partners and experts from around the world on changing the name of monkeypox virus... and the disease it causes."

"We will make announcements about the new names as soon as possible."