The logo is displayed in the building of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, Switzerland, February 2, 2020. The photo was taken on February 2, 2020. REUTERS / Denis Balibouse // File Photo
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LONDON, May 20 (Reuters) – The World Health Organization will hold an emergency meeting to discuss monkeypox on Friday, according to sources close to the UN agency.
The committee to be convened is the Strategic and Technical Advisory Group on Infectious Hazards with Pandemic and Epidemic Potential (STAG-IH), which advises the WHO on the risks of infections that may pose a threat to global health.
More than 100 cases of viral infection, which are spread through close contact and are usually mild, have recently been reported outside Africa, where it is endemic.
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STAG-IH is not the WHO committee that would propose that monkeypox be declared a public health emergency of international importance, the highest form of WHO concern currently being applied to the COVID-19 pandemic.
It is a group of experts made up of scientists from around the world and chaired by David Heyman, Professor of Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.
Earlier today, a WHO spokesman said at a briefing in Geneva that the agency was working to share information and organize technical meetings on the smallpox outbreak.
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Report by Jennifer Rigby; Edited by Hugh Lawson and Philippa Fletcher
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