WHO declares monkeypox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency, as DRC accounts for 96% of cases

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared mpox outbreaks in Congo and other parts of Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads across the continent.

Cases have been confirmed among both children and adults in over a dozen countries, with vaccine supplies remaining critically low, according to ABC News.

Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) labeled the outbreaks a public health emergency, reporting over 500 deaths and calling for urgent international assistance to curb the virus’s spread.

“This is a matter of global concern… The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is highly alarming,” said WHO Director-General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Africa CDC reported that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, with Congo accounting for more than 96 percent of cases and deaths.

Cases have surged by 160 percent, and deaths by 19 percent compared to the same period last year.

To date, more than 14,000 cases have been reported, with 524 deaths.

“We are now facing a situation where mpox poses a significant risk to neighboring regions in and around central Africa,” said Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious diseases expert and chair of the Africa CDC emergency group.

He noted that the new variant spreading from Congo appears to have a death rate of 3-4 percent.

In 2022, WHO declared mpox a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries, predominantly affecting gay and bisexual men, with a death rate of less than one percent.

Michael Marks, a professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, stated that the declaration of an emergency was necessary if it leads to more resources being allocated to contain the outbreaks.

“It’s a failure of the global community that things had to reach this point before the needed resources were made available,” he said.

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