“ The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in our Lord.”
[Feb.22.2023] The World Health Organization (WHO) has decided to uphold the declaration of a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) issued on the 15th (local time) over monkeypox. An emergency committee of the International Health Code, made up of health experts, acknowledged in a closed meeting last week that monkeypox epidemics are declining worldwide.
Since the fourth quarter of last year, the epidemic of monkeypox has been slowing down amid vaccine distribution and quarantine efforts in each country, and the fact that the current level of risk posed by monkeypox to each country’s health system is ‘moderate’ rather than ‘severe’ is a positive sign for overcoming monkeypox, said the emergency committee.
However, the emergency committee pointed out that it is difficult to lower the level of alert against monkeypox while getting continuing reports of cases of monkeypox in some regions and having insufficient research data on how long immunity lasts after vaccination in some countries.
Since monkeypox is characterized by the fact that the majority of cases of infection are mediated through sexual contact between men of the same sex, there is a problem of poor response to the disease due to social stigma and discrimination against infected persons as well as the risk of the disease itself.
Because the infected people may be more likely than others to hide the fact that they have the disease, more careful approaches are needed when trying to figure out the scale of an outbreak.
In addition, considering the possibility that the spread of infection may increase after winter and the possibility that gay festivals will be held in various parts of the world in the next few months, the emergency committee concluded that it is necessary to maintain PHEIC for the monkeypox. PHEIC is the highest public health alert declaration that the WHO can issue.
Monkeypox, which was endemic to Africa, began to appear in non-African regions in May last year. It often presents with a blistering rash, often accompanied by acute fever, headache, or muscle pain.
The number of confirmed cases of monkeypox around the world remained at around 3,000 until June of last year, before rising sharply from July. In late August of last year, the cumulative number of cases soared to 41,000 and increased to 73,000 in mid-October (Source: Yonhap News Agency).
What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 6:21-23)
God, may You take control of the situation where monkeypox is still an international emergency and renew and heal those fighting the disease. May the declaration of the World Health Organization serve as a warning to people all over the world to realize the seriousness of the consequences of homosexuality. May the people involved in sinful activities realise that the wages of sin are death and repent from their sins. May the churches of all nations proclaim and spread the joy of eternal life in Christ Jesus everywhere, so that the light of life may rule over the people living in darkness.
Prayer 24·365
prayer@prayer24365.org
