Experts were called in to assess the Zika outbreak after noting a link between its arrival in Brazil last year and a surge in the number of babies born with abnormally small heads.
WHO officials have predicted that as many as four million people could be infected with the virus this year.
The alert was recommended by a committee of independent experts to the United Nations agency, following criticism of a hesitant response so far.
The move should help fast-track international action and research priorities.
The committee advised that the association between the virus and microcephaly – a condition where the child has an underdeveloped brain – constitutes an ‘extraordinary event’.
WHO director general Dr Margaret Chan said the causal relationship between infection during pregnancy and microcephaly in babies is ‘strongly suspected’ but not yet scientifically proven.
She called for a coordinated international response to investigate and understand the relationship between the virus and the condition.
Patterns of spread of the virus, the lack of vaccines and reliable diagnostic tests are also cause for concern, Dr Chan added.
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