Africa calls for emergency declaration over MPOX outbreak

The African Union (AU) Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) on Thursday called for a “state of public health emergency of continental significance” following an outbreak of mpox (a disease formerly known as monkeypox) in the region.

“It is a demand of the Africa CDC to declare it. We have to follow a series of steps to understand the magnitude of the problem and the appropriate measures that must be taken to prevent this situation from becoming another pandemic“warned the director general of the Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya, in a telematic press conference.

The head of the AU-affiliated body stressed the importance of “mobilising the international community to make them aware of what is happening in Africa”, although it is the World Health Organisation (WHO) that is responsible for making the declaration.

According to data from Kaseya, there has been a 160% increase in cases between 2023 and 2024, meaning that this year there will be “more than double what there was in 2023 and even more.”

“This is one of the aspects that alarms us (…). In addition, 70% of the people affected are under 18 years old. We are losing youth in Africa,” he said.

“We are working with young people, helping them obtain appropriate information so they can share it,” he added.

To address this, the leader said that “at least ten million vaccines” are needed, a figure that is far from the 200,000 available so far.

“Mpox is a reality, it is affecting our countries. People are dying. We need to address that,” he said, adding: “We have learned from Covid-19 and we do not want to repeat the same mistake.”

For this reason, he reiterated, he is meeting with political leaders and the international community to “obtain the blessing and guidance to declare a state of emergency.”

According to information published this Thursday by the WHO, Fifteen African countries are currently reporting an outbreak of mpox, with a total of 2,030 confirmed cases. and 13 deaths so far this year, compared with 1,145 cases and seven deaths in all of 2023.

On Wednesday, UN agency Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus confirmed that the Emergency Committee that advises him on outbreaks that may have international repercussions will consider as soon as possible whether to declare MPOX a public health emergency again.

Cases of this disease, whose main focus of infection was the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and was already an international health emergency between 2022 and 2023, are multiplying in Africa.

They have been reported for the first time in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, while also in the DRC Cases have been observed in provinces that had not been previously affected.

The Central African Republic became the latest African country to declare an MPOX outbreak on 1 August.

The mpox virus is transmitted mainly by direct or indirect contact with blood, body fluids, skin lesions or mucous membranes of infected animals.