Seven times since 2007 that the World Health Organization has declared a “public health emergency of international concern,” or PHEIC:
2009-2010 — H1N1 influenza. By the end of the declaration, there were an estimated 18,000 attributed deaths worldwide, but modeling put the true number between 123,000 and 203,000.
2014-ongoing — Poliomyelitis. In 2014, there were just 74 global cases of polio, mostly in Pakistan, but the disease is so contagious and easily spread that a PHEIC was declared.
2014-2016 — Western Africa Ebola. The largest Ebola outbreak in history included 28,000 cases of the hemorrhagic fever and 11,310 deaths, a case-fatality rate of 40 percent.
2016 — Zika. Clusters of viral cases appeared in Brazil, with cases eventually appearing in more than 100 countries.
2019-2020 — Democratic Republic of Congo Ebola. Cases first appeared in 2018, but a public health emergency wasn’t declared for nearly a year. More than 3,400 people were infected and 2,000 of them died — a mortality rate of 66 percent.
2020-ongoing — COVID-19. WHO declared a PHEIC on Jan. 30, 2020. Globally, there have been at least 641 million reported cases since and 6.6 million deaths.
2022-ongoing — Mpox. Previously known as monkeypox, tens of thousands of cases have been documented in more than 75 countries. Less contagious and deadly than COVID-19.
LaFee is a health science writer at UC San Diego.
