The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared the monkeypox outbreak in more than 70 countries a global health emergency.

The body noted that it sounded the alarm so that a coordinated international response and collaboration could be taken on the ravaging disease.

Monkeypox, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) is a rare zoonotic infectious disease that is endemic in areas in and near tropical rainforests in Central and West Africa.

While announcing the health emergency during a media briefing in Geneva, the WHO Director- General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, explained that the decision came as a result of the rise in cases of the monkeypox virus.

“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” Tedros said on Saturday. “For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global Monkeypox outbreak represents a Public Health Emergency of International Concern.”

He added that no fewer than 16,000 reported cases from 75 countries and territories, and five deaths have been recorded.

Governments are, thereby, advised to raise awareness among doctors and hospitals, take protective measures in suspected cases and educate members of the population on how to protect themselves from infection.

Reports from Nigeria, according to the NCDC confirmed 101 cases of Monkeypox in 2022, its highest figure since 2017 when the disease re-emerged.

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