LONDON — The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the Mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa a global health emergency, with cases confirmed in children and adults in more than a dozen countries and the spread of a new variant of the virus.
There are few vaccine doses available on the continent.
Earlier this week, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared the Mpox outbreak, which has caused more than 500 deaths, a public health emergency, and called for international help to stop the spread of the virus.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, “This is something that should concern us all… The potential for further spread in Africa and beyond is very worrying.”
The Africa CDC previously noted that Mpox, also known as monkeypox, had been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% of all cases and deaths have occurred in Congo.
Cases have risen by 160% and deaths by 19% compared to the same period last year. So far, more than 14,000 cases have been reported here and 524 people have died.
Salim Abdul Karim, a South African infectious disease expert who chairs the Africa CDC emergency group, said, “We are now in a situation where (MPox) poses a threat to many of Central Africa and its surrounding neighbors.”
He said the new variant of MPox spreading from Congo has a mortality rate of between 3 and 4%.
During the 2022 global MPox outbreak, which affected more than 70 countries, less than 1% of people died.
Michael Marks, a professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, said it is appropriate to declare MPox outbreaks as emergencies if it can get more support to stop them.
“The fact that things have gone so badly is a failure of the global community to release the necessary resources,” he said.
Africa CDC officials said nearly 70% of cases in Congo have been in children under the age of 15, including 85% of deaths.
