Africa CDC declares public health emergency over mpox outbreak

First continental public health emergency for Africa issued before WHO meeting on possible global declaration

A nurse takes a sample from a child with a suspected case of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in July. Reuters

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention on Tuesday declared a public health emergency for mpox amid an outbreak that has spread from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to neighbouring countries.

The spread of a new and more transmissible strain of the viral infection, formerly known as monkeypox, has raised concerns, compelling the agency to issue its first continental public health emergency.

“We declare today this public health emergency of continental security to mobilise our institutions, our collective will and our resources to act swiftly and decisively,” Africa CDC director general Jean Kaseya said in a briefing.

Mr Kaseya said he hoped that the declaration would be seen as a “call to action” to try to contain the virus.

The announcement was made before a World Health Organisation meeting on whether the outbreak necessitates the declaration of an international health emergency.

Hundreds of cases have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the past 12 months, and others have been found in neighbouring countries. Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda reported their first mpox cases in the past month.

The current outbreak has been fuelled by the deadlier mpox clade 1, and the new mutated variant called clade 1b.

“We are tracking closely on the spread of mpox in Central Africa,” US State Department spokesman Vedant Patel said. “We are pleased to see international leadership in this area.”

Data shared by the WHO showed there were more mpox cases reported in the first half of this year than in all of 2023.

Human-to-human transmission is most probably made through close contact or sexual activity, as well as touching items used by someone infected with the disease.

An mpox infection causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled skin lesions all over the body. Infections can be prevented with a two-dose vaccine regimen and treated with antiviral medication. Most cases are not lethal.

In 2022, a global public health emergency was declared when thousands of cases were recorded in a rare outbreak of mpox in western countries. Vaccine programmes were rolled out in the US and the UK, and the emergency ended in May 2023.

The mpox virus is considered endemic in Africa, but countries in the continent historically do not have vaccines to address the health threat.

Mr Kaseya has repeatedly suggested Africa needs more than 10 million doses of the mpox vaccine – up from the current stockpile of 200,000 – and said on Tuesday that the health agency is trying to secure more.