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| current Zika transmission worldwide |
The World Health Organization (WHO) declared on Friday that the Zika virus and related neurological complications no longer constitute an international public health emergency but said that it would continue to work on the outbreak through a "robust long term program".[i]
The fifth meeting of the Emergency Committee (EC) was held via teleconference
under the International Health Regulations (IHR 2005) regarding microcephaly,
other neurological disorders and Zika virus. The director general preceded over
the meeting and briefed the EC members based on the reports from previous 4 meetings.
The WHO EC has declared Zika virus infection as The Public Health
Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) in February,2016. This led to
an urgent, massive and coordinated response worldwide and led us to understand many
aspects of Zika virus infection.
The EC now feels that the emergency is now over and the programme should
now transition into a more sustainable, resource orientated long term programme
addressing many aspects of the disease and the future management.
"We are not downgrading the importance of Zika, by placing this as a
longer program of work, we are sending the message that Zika is here to
stay," Dr. Peter Salama, Executive Director of WHO's Health Emergencies
Program, told a news briefing.
"It remains crucially important that pregnant women avoid traveling
to areas with local transmission of Zika, because of the devastating
complications that can occur in fetuses that become infected during
pregnancy," the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said in a
statement.
Some public health experts have second thoughts on removing the emergency
label as the disease still continues to cause infection in USA and elsewhere.
"Although Zika's spread has waned, it still holds the potential for
an explosive epidemic. If it were to reemerge in the Americas or jump to
another part of the world, it would significantly threaten a new generation of
children born with disabilities such as microcephaly." said Lawrence
Gostin, a global health law expert from Georgetown University. He further added
that “I think WHO's decision is unwise."
Much work still needs to be done, including development of a vaccine.
As per WHO about 70 countries worldwide have reported evidence of Zika
virus infection/transmission since 2007.
There are 2,300 confirmed cases worldwide of babies born with
microcephaly, most in Brazil, but the figure is most likely a "significant
under-estimate.” Says Dr. Peter Salama.
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