Why WHO Ended the Mpox Global Emergency in 2025
WHO ended the 2024–2025 mpox public-health emergency designation after sustained case declines, more predictable transmission and improved response capacity, while keeping long-term control recommendations in place.
Timeline
- 2024-08-14: WHO declared the mpox upsurge a public health emergency of international concern.
- 2025-09-04: The IHR Emergency Committee held its fifth meeting on the upsurge.
- 2025-09-05: The WHO Director-General determined that the event no longer constituted a PHEIC.
- 2025-10-30: WHO published the committee's detailed fifth-meeting report.
The World Health Organization ended the public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, for the mpox upsurge on September 5, 2025. The designation had been in force since August 14, 2024. WHO’s Director-General made the decision after considering advice from the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee, which met on September 4. Ending the designation was a judgment about whether the outbreak still met the IHR emergency criteria; it was not a declaration that mpox had been eliminated. [1][2]
Under the International Health Regulations, a PHEIC is an extraordinary event that creates a public-health risk to other countries through international spread and may require a coordinated international response. The committee compared conditions in August 2024 with those in September 2025 across indicators linked to those criteria. All but one participating member advised that the upsurge no longer met the threshold. The Director-General concurred, while leaving standing recommendations available for countries to continue control work. [2]
The committee’s central epidemiological reason was a sustained and consistent decline in reported cases across Africa. It also said transmission patterns and risk factors for severe or fatal outcomes had become clearer and more predictable. Although local flare-ups were still expected, spread in some settings had begun to resemble an endemic pattern rather than an extraordinary international emergency. Those findings supported a transition in response posture, but they did not remove the possibility of serious illness or renewed outbreaks. [2][3]
The assessed risk of international spread had also fallen. According to the committee, exported cases were broadly matching modelling expectations, suggesting fewer large pockets of undetected transmission. Imported cases outside Africa generally had not produced significant onward transmission, indicating that health systems could detect introductions and respond with targeted measures. This evidence addressed the cross-border element of the PHEIC definition rather than proving that every country faced the same level of risk. [2]
Response capacity had improved since the emergency was declared. Countries and international partners had developed surveillance, diagnostic, vaccination and case-management experience, while coordination mechanisms were already operating. The committee judged that those arrangements could support a longer-term program without the marginal benefit of retaining emergency status. It also warned that keeping a PHEIC indefinitely can weaken the designation’s role as a global early-warning signal calling for urgent action. [2][4]
WHO therefore recommended a shift from an emergency posture to sustained, health-system-based control. Priorities included maintaining targeted testing and readiness, decentralizing testing where access was difficult, integrating services with HIV and sexually transmitted infection programs, countering stigma and misinformation, defining vaccination groups and preserving stockpiles for localized surges. The existing standing recommendations were extended through August 20, 2026, so countries still had an international framework after the temporary emergency determination ended. [2][4]
For readers, the practical distinction is simple: ending a PHEIC changes the highest international alert status, not the biology of the virus or the need for care. WHO continued to classify mpox as a major ongoing health emergency and urged surveillance, vaccination access and rapid response where transmission persisted. People should follow current local health guidance about symptoms, exposure, testing and vaccination because eligibility and outbreak conditions differ by place and can change after an international designation is revised. [2][3][4]
Sources
- WHO Mpox IHR Emergency Committee 2024
- Fifth Meeting of the IHR Emergency Committee Regarding the Mpox Upsurge
- WHO Mpox External Situation Report 58
- WHO Strategic Framework for Enhancing Prevention and Control of Mpox 2024–2027