A meeting of the ********* Committee (EC) on Zika and microcephaly under the International Health Regulations was held on ******** 18th, resulting in the situation being downgraded from an ********* to an issue requiring longer-term research and management.

The EC originally recommended a Public Health ********* of International Concern (PHEIC) in February 2016 on the basis of an extraordinary cluster of microcephaly and other neurological disorders reported in Brazil, following a similar cluster in French Polynesia associated with the Zika ***** which required urgent and coordinated and research.

Because research has now demonstrated a link between Zika ***** infection and microcephaly, the EC felt that a robust longer-term technical mechanism was now required to manage the global response.

As a result, the EC felt that Zika ***** and associated consequences remain a significant enduring public health challenge requiring intense action, but no longer represent a PHEIC as defined under the International Health Regulations.

Based on this advice, the Director-General declared the end of the Public Health ********* of International Concern (PHEIC).

“We are not downgrading the importance of Zika,” said Peter Salama, executive director of WHO’s health emergencies program, told The New York Times. “We are sending the message that Zika is here to stay and the WHO response is here to stay.”

The ******* of microcephaly cases that was expected to ***** across Latin American has failed to materialize as had been feared, but many people have been affected by the *****, and pregnant women are urged to take precautions.