LONDON (AP) — The ***** Health Organization convenes its ********* committee Thursday to consider if the spiraling outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global *********. But some experts say the WHO’s decision to act only after the ******* spilled into the West could entrench the grotesque inequities that arose between rich and poor countries during the *********** ********.

Declaring monkeypox to be a global ********* would mean the U.N. health agency considers the outbreak to be an “extraordinary event” and that the ******* is at risk of spreading across even more borders, possibly requiring a global response. It would also give monkeypox the same distinction as the ******** ******** and the ongoing effort to eradicate polio.

The WHO said it did not expect to announce any decisions made by its ********* committee before Friday.

Many scientists doubt any such declaration would help to curb the epidemic, since the developed countries recording the most recent cases are already moving quickly to shut it down.

Last week, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus described the recent monkeypox epidemic identified in more than 40 countries, mostly in Europe, as “unusual and concerning.” Monkeypox has sickened people for decades in central and west Africa, where one version of the ******* kills up to 10% of people infected. In the epidemic beyond Africa so far, no ****** have been reported.

“If WHO was really worried about monkeypox spread, they could have convened their ********* committee years ago when it reemerged in Nigeria in 2017 and no one knew why we suddenly had hundreds of cases,” said Oyewale Tomori, a Nigerian virologist who sits on several WHO advisory groups. “It is a bit curious that WHO only called their experts when the ******* showed up in white countries,” he said.

Until last month, monkeypox had not caused sizeable outbreaks beyond Africa. Scientists haven’t found any major genetic changes in the ***** and a leading adviser to the WHO said last month the ***** of cases in Europe was likely tied to ****** activity among *** and ******** men at two raves in Spain and Belgium.

To date, the U.S. Centers for ******* Control and Prevention has confirmed more than 3,300 cases of monkeypox in 42 countries where the ***** hasn’t been typically seen. More than 80% of cases are in Europe. Meanwhile, Africa has already seen more than 1,400 cases this year, including 62 ******.

David Fidler, a senior fellow in global health at the Council on Foreign Relations, said the WHO’s newfound attention to monkeypox amid its spread beyond Africa could inadvertently worsen the divide between rich and poor countries seen during ********.

“There may be legitimate reasons why WHO only raised the alarm when monkeypox spread to rich countries, but to poor countries, that looks like a double standard,” Fidler said. He said the global community was still struggling to ensure the *****’s poor were vaccinated against the *********** and that it was unclear if Africans even wanted monkeypox vaccines, given competing priorities like malaria and HIV.

“Unless African governments specifically ask for vaccines, it might be a bit patronizing to send them because it’s in the West’s interest to stop monkeypox from being exported,” Fidler said.

The WHO has also proposed creating a vaccine-sharing mechanism to help affected countries, which could see doses go to rich countries like *******, which has the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa — and recently widened its use of vaccines.

To date, the vast majority of cases in Europe have been in men who are *** or ********, or other men who have *** with men, but scientists warn anyone in close contact with an infected person or their clothing or bedsheets is at risk of infection, regardless of their ****** orientation. People with monkeypox often experience symptoms like *****, body aches and a rash; most recover within weeks without needing medical care.

Even if the WHO announces monkeypox is a global *********, it’s unclear what impact that might have.

In January 2020, the WHO declared ******** an international *********. But few countries took notice until March, when the organization described it as a ********, weeks after many other authorities did so. The WHO was later slammed for its multiple missteps throughout the ********, which some experts said might be prompting a quicker monkeypox response.

“After *****, WHO does not want to be the last to declare monkeypox an *********,” said Amanda Glassman, executive vice president at the Center for Global Development. “This may not rise to the level of a *****-like *********, but it is still a public health ********* that needs to be addressed.”

Salim Abdool Karim, an epidemiologist and vice chancellor at the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa, said the WHO and others should be doing more to stop monkeypox in Africa and elsewhere, but wasn’t convinced that a global ********* declaration would help.

“There is this misplaced idea that Africa is this poor, helpless continent, when in fact, we do know how to deal with epidemics,” said Abdool Karim. He said that stopping the outbreak ultimately depends on things like surveillance, isolating patients and public education.

“Maybe they need vaccines in Europe to stop monkeypox, but here, we have been able to control it with very simple measures,” he said.