The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has declared the ongoing Mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS), the first such declaration by the agency since its inception in 2017.
- At least 13 African countries, including previously unaffected nations like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, have reported Mpox outbreaks.
- In 2024, these countries have confirmed 2,863 cases and 517 deaths, primarily in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the outbreak.
- Suspected cases across the continent have surged past 17,000, a significant increase from 7,146 cases in 2022 and 14,957 cases in 2023
“Today, we declare this PHECS to mobilize our institutions, our collective will, and our resources to act—swiftly and decisively. This empowers us to forge new partnerships, strengthen our health systems, educate our communities, and deliver life-saving interventions where they are needed most. There is no need for travel restrictions at this time,” Africa CDC Director General Dr. Jean Kaseya said while making the announcement on Wednesday.
Why it Matters
On July 29th, Kenya confirmed its first Mpox case of a driver who had travelled to Rwanda and Tanzania. The link to intraregional trade routes raises the risk of further spread, especially with the rapid growth of trade and commerce with the DRC.
Mpox is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus. Common symptoms include a skin rash or mucosal lesions lasting 2–4 weeks, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes. From May 2022 to July 2023, the illness was declared a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
“It’s clear that we’re facing a different scenario with far more cases, resulting in a higher burden of illness,” Professor Salim Abdool Karim, head of CAPRISA, an AIDS research program based in Durban, South Africa, said. He also raised concerns about the rising fatalities, particularly the potential link between HIV and Mpox. “Our concern is that we may be seeing more fatalities in Africa due to the association with HIV,” he noted.
According to the WHO, about 96 percent of the confirmed cases in June were in the DRC, but the numbers are likely higher due to the limited testing in rural areas. Globally, the most affected region in June was Africa with 567 cases of infection, followed by the Americas (175 cases), Europe – excluding the Eastern Mediterranean region – (100 cases), Western Pacific (81 cases) and South-East Asia (11 cases).
From 1 January 2022 to 30 June 2024, a total of 99,176 laboratory-confirmed cases of mpox – including 208 deaths – have been reported to the UN health agency from 116 countries in all WHO regions. Apart from Africa, “the outbreak continues at a low level of transmission” globally, WHO said.
