Key Takeaways:

• The meeting's objectives are to provide input to the WHO Director-General on the proposed interim solutions and comments on whether the situation meets the criteria for a public health emergency of international significance.
• For almost two years, the international health organization had faced criticism for delaying the proclamation of the coronavirus pandemic. This also happened when the Ebola epidemic was going on.

Has monkeypox replaced COVID as the next major global health emergency? After the first Emergency Committee meeting about the multi-nation outbreak was scheduled on Thursday, the World Health Organization is likely to respond shortly. 

The meeting's goals are to give the Director-General of WHO feedback on the suggested temporary measures as well as opinions on whether the incident qualifies as a public health emergency of international importance.

The infection caused by the monkeypox virus will be classified in the same category as Covid if it is designated a "Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)."

The world health organization had come under fire for delaying the coronavirus pandemic declaration almost two years prior. This also occurred during the Ebola outbreak. According to a previous article published in The Lancet journal, "The Democratic Republic of the Congo, currently experiencing the 2nd biggest Ebola outbreak in recorded history, notified WHO of the outbreak on August 1, 2018; however, WHO required four Emergency Committee meetings, including on October 17, 2018 (216 confirmed cases, 139 deaths, and 64 percent case fatality ratio), and April 12 as well as June 14, 2019 (four confirmed cases in Uganda).

The WHO was pushed to classify monkeypox as a pandemic by the World Health Network (WHN), a group of independent scientists who came together in reaction to the Covid-19 danger.

"The current monkeypox outbreak, which has affected over 3500 people in 58 countries and is quickly spreading across continents, has been classified as a pandemic by the (WHN). Without coordinated worldwide effort, the outbreak will not be contained, "Eric Feigl-Ding, an American researcher in public health and co-founder of WHN, tweeted.

For many years, monkeypox was only seen in Africa, but since May, there have been reports of an increase in cases in Europe, the US, Australia, and many other countries.