Mpox, formerly known as Monkeypox, is surging in Africa. The WHO will meet today to discuss whether to declare a public health emergency.

From The Epoch Times. The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that it will hold an emergency meeting on mpox and the decision whether to declare the virus “a public health emergency of international concern,” its director-general confirmed over the weekend.

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The emergency meeting will be held on Aug. 14 to assess whether the status of mpox—a virus previously referred to as monkeypox that has been spreading in about 10 African nations—should prompt the international emergency declaration, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus wrote on social media. …

A public health emergency of international concern is the WHO’s highest alarm and allows the U.N. agency to use emergency responses under its international health regulations. Since 2005, there have been seven such declarations, including for COVID-19 in 2020, the zika virus epidemic in 2015, and previous mpox outbreaks in 2022 and 2023.

Mpox is caused by a virus transmitted to people from infected animals, but it can be passed from person to person via close physical contact. Symptoms include boil-like skin lesions and rashes, a fever, and muscle aches.

Officials say that a strain of the virus known as Clade I, which is currently affecting several African countries, may cause illness that is more severe than that caused by the variant known as Clade II, which caused a worldwide outbreak in 2022. …

The worst hit on the continent is Congo, which has recorded more than 12,000 cases and at least 470 deaths this year in its biggest outbreak. …

… So far, it has been detected in 10 African countries in 2024, according to the Africa CDC in its most recent update. …

Although the U.S. health agency said no cases of mpox have been reported outside central and eastern Africa at this time, it expressed concern about the Clade I strain. …

How are you praying about this WHO meeting? Share your prayers and scriptures with other intercessors in the comments.

(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Guilhem Vellut from Annecy, France – Logo @ World Health Organization @ Pregny-Chambésy, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=105949361)