Independent experts to the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday began deliberating whether to declare a global emergency over the Zika virus, which has been linked to thousands of birth defects in Brazil.
An unnamed WHO official said in Geneva that the 12 committee members, who are experts in epidemiology, public health and infectious diseases from the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa, had commenced discussion on the issue in a telephone conference.
He said that a news briefing would be held on Tuesday afternoon on the discussion.
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WHO said last week that Zika virus was “spreading explosively” and could infect as many as four million people in the Americas. WHO official noted that the deliberation had become imperative to avoid another ctiricism of “reacting too slowly’’.
He said that WHO was criticised for reacting too slowly to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa which killed more than 10,000 people, and had promised to do better in future global health crises.
Peter Piot, Director of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and a co-discoverer of the Ebola virus, said the WHO had “dropped the ball” on Ebola, when it took five months for the epidemic to be declared an emergency.
He said that he was expecting a rapid response this time.
“I have all confidence that they will declare this as a public health emergency,’’ he said.
Meanwhile, Brazil has reported not less than 4,000 suspected cases of microcephaly, in which infants are born with smaller-than-usual brains.
The health ministry has linked the condition to Zika.
Experts believe that as the virus spreads from Brazil, other countries in the Americas are also likely to see cases of babies with Zika-linked birth defects. (Reuters/NAN)
Source: Leadership News
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