Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, has declared the outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of African countries to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005).
“Dr Tedros’s declaration came on the advice of an IHR Emergency Committee of independent experts who met earlier in the day to review data presented by experts from WHO and affected countries,” a statement from the WHO reads.
“The Committee informed the Director-General that it considers the upsurge of mpox to be a PHEIC, with potential to spread further across countries in Africa and possibly outside the continent.”
As seen in the organization’s official site, different clades of mpox have broken out in various countries in Africa, each with its own mode of transmission and danger levels.
“The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighboring countries are very worrying. On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” the general-director stated.
With almost 500 deaths from mpox outbreaks, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said earlier this week that the virus was a public health emergency and requested assistance from other countries to halt its spread.
Prior to that the EAC released a statement in its headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania, concerning the outbreak, noting that the spread of the virus is becoming a cause for concern, as they aimed to inform the general public.
According to the statement, Burundi reported three cases of mpox in the country’s western area, which were confirmed by national laboratories and the WHO.
There have also been reports that vaccines would be needed to curtail the spread of the virus, however, these vaccines are seemingly sparse.
Back in July 2022, the outbreak of the mpox virus across numerous countries prompted the WHO to declare a PHEIC as it spread rapidly via sexual contact. Then the virus was still being studied, as not much was known about it. The PHEIC was called off in May 2023, once the virus seemed to have been contained.
However, for almost a decade, the Democratic Republic of Congo has reported cases of mpox, with an annual increase in cases seen during the decade. The number of cases recorded rose dramatically in 2023 and as of now, this year’s total of more than 15,600 cases and 537 deaths, has surpassed that of the previous year.
