Africa’s top public health agency declared a health emergency Tuesday over the spread of monkeypox, also known as mpox. According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)Africa CDCfor its acronym in English), so far this year the continent has recorded 15,000 cases of mpox (an increase of 160% compared to the same period last year) and 461 deaths from this virus. Most likely, warns the CDC, this data is only “the tip of the iceberg”, and there are many more affected. Since January 2022, and until this August 4, the official number of cases in Africa is 38,465 and 1,456 deaths.
“MPOX has already crossed borders, affecting thousands of people on our continent, destroying families and causing pain and suffering in every corner of our continent,” Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, said at a press conference on Tuesday. “This statement [de emergencia sanitaria] This is not a mere formality, it is a call to action (…) We must be proactive and aggressive in our efforts to contain and eliminate this threat,” he said.
The WHO’s turn
The World Health Organization will discuss next steps on Wednesday in light of the spread of the disease and the possibility of declaring a global health emergency. The international organization declared mpox an international emergency in 2022, when an outbreak caused more than 16,500 cases, almost all mild or very mild, in 75 countries. The WHO maintained this health alert until May 2023.
Monkeypox, or mpox (the WHO renamed monkeypox in 2022 to avoid stigmatisation), is transmitted from animals to humans, and also between humans, through respiratory secretions, skin lesions or contact with contaminated objects, and through sexual intercourse. Although it often presents as a mild disease, with symptoms such as fever, muscle aches and skin lesions, if left untreated it can be fatal. Children are at greater risk than adults of contracting mpox, according to the WHO – 70% of cases in the DRC have occurred in children under 15 years of age, and 39% in children under five years of age – and, in the Central African country, they are almost four times more likely to die from monkeypox than adults. Of the deaths reported up to May this year, 62% were under five years of age.
The African continent had been on alert for weeks due to the spread of a more lethal variant of this disease, starting in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where monkeypox has historically been endemic in 11 of its 26 provinces (especially in rural areas). The increase in cases in the last two years led the DRC government to declare an outbreak in December 2022, with 22 provinces affected.
In late July, Kenya and Uganda reported three cases, raising alarm bells as thousands of international travellers arrived in East Africa at this time. Sequencing of the viruses in these countries determined that it was a variant that had only been previously detected in the DRC, and that it is more lethal than the one that caused the global outbreak in 2022, according to the prestigious scientific journal. ScienceCountries bordering the DRC, such as Burundi, the Central African Republic and Rwanda, have also reported cases of mpox in recent days.
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