The World Health Organization has declared an international health emergency around the surge of Mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries, sounding its highest alarm over the spread of the virus for the second time since 2022.
“Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice,” the WHO’s director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told journalists after a meeting of experts on Wednesday.
A public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) is the WHO’s highest level of alert, and it triggers emergency responses in countries around the world and aims to accelerate research, funding and public health measures and cooperation to contain the disease.
The decision follows the African Union’s health authority declaring its own public health emergency Tuesday over the outbreak that has been spreading at an alarming rate.
Surge in cases
More than 17,000 suspected cases and more than 500 deaths have been reported this year, mainly among children in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Cases have now been detected in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda in the past month.
Mpox, previously called monkeybox, was first discovered in humans in DRC in the 1970s, and has since spread.
Endemic to central and western Africa, the mpox virus is transmitted to humans by infected animals, but it can also be passed between humans through close physical contact.
Usually mild, it causes fever, muscular aches and large pus-filled skin lesions, but it can be fatal.
Second emergency
A PHEIC over mpox was declared from July 2022 to May 2023 over a different, less deadly strain of the virus – Clade II.
Cases were reported across Europe and north America, with over 2,000 people infected in France.
Clade IIb, which has been surging in the DRC since September 2023, causes more severe illness, with a higher fatality rate.
Vaccines and behaviour change among men who have sex with men helped stop the spread of Clade II, which was mostly passed through sexual contact and affected mostly gay and bisexual men
The WHO said transmission routes of the new strain require further study.
Funding, action
Tedros said on Wednesday that WHO had released $1.5 million in contingency funds and plans to release more in the coming days, calling on donors to help raise the initial $15 million needed for the agency’s response plan.
The Red Cross, whose international federation expressed “profound concern” over the spread of the virus, said it was scaling up preparedness measures across Africa, notably in eastern DRC.
With its broad network, the IFRC said it was prepared to “play a crucial role in containing the spread of the disease, even in the hard-to-reach areas where the need is the greatest”.
(with newswires)
