Mpox in Africa: WHO and Africa CDC consider declaring public health emergency as cases spike

The British Medical Journal 13 August 2024

The World Health Organisation will decide this week whether to declare mpox a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) as cases surge in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and spread rapidly to the rest of the continent, WHO director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said on 10 August.

The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), Jean Kaseya, also said last week that Africa will “most likely” declare mpox a regional public health emergency in the hope of preventing the viral disease from becoming “another pandemic.”

Mpox cases are up 160% on this time last year and spiked in the week to 4 August, spreading to six new countries in 10 days, data presented by Kaseya at a media briefing in Addis Ababa showed.

Kesaya said mpox’s spread to new countries is “critical” and “demonstrates the need for a collective and collaborative approach in curbing the spread of the disease.”

In the week up to 4 August there were 887 new confirmed and suspected cases of monkeypox reported in Africa, bringing 2024’s total so far to 15 132 with 461 deaths reported, according to the Africa CDC presentation. The virus has reached 16 countries, with DRC recording more than 14 000 of the cases.

Mpox (formerly known as monkeypox), which commonly causes painful rashes and flu-like symptoms, comes from the same family as smallpox and can be prevented with the same vaccine. WHO declared mpox a PHEIC in July 2023 when it was detected in countries across Europe, but the emergency was declared over in May 2023 after outbreaks were contained through increased surveillance and the rollout of vaccines.