NAIROBI: The African Union's health watchdog said on Thursday it is “likely” to declare a public health emergency next week due to an outbreak of mpox in the continent.
The decision will free up funding to fight the outbreak, including the purchase of vital vaccines, and trigger a coordinated continental response to the virus.
Jean Kaseya, head of the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said during an online media briefing that “it is likely” next week that health emergency declaration.
At least 16 of the continent's 55 countries have been affected by mpox, according to CDC Africa.
About 38,465 cases and 1,456 deaths in Africa since January 2022.
Of these, there were 887 cases and five deaths last week, according to data from the Africa CDC.
“We are moving from two outbreaks a week to three new outbreaks a week,” Kaseya said, adding that there was a shortage of vaccines on the continent.
Formerly known as monkeypox, mpox is an infectious disease caused by a virus that is transmitted to humans from infected animals but can also be transmitted from person to person through close contact.
The disease causes fever, muscle pain and large sores like boils.
The World Health Organization announced Wednesday that it will convene an emergency expert committee to advise whether the outbreak of smallpox in Africa should be declared an international emergency.
“The committee will meet as soon as possible and will include independent experts from relevant fields around the world,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a news conference. the journalist.
The committee will advise him whether the outbreak represents a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) – the highest level of alert the WHO can issue.
Only Tedros, as WHO director-general, can declare a PHEIC, based on the advice of an expert committee. The announcement then triggers an emergency response in countries around the world under international health regulations.
Mpox was first identified in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
There are two types of the virus: the more virulent and deadly Clade I, not found in the Congo Basin of central Africa; and Clade II, which is rare in West Africa.
As of May 2022, the mpox epidemic is increasing worldwide, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men, due to the Clade IIb subclade.
Deadlier and more transmissible than previous forms, the mpox strain emerging in the DRC since September, known as the Clade Ib subclade, is spreading from person to person.
Clade Ib strains cause skin lesions all over the body, unlike other lesions where lesions and ulcers are usually limited to the mouth, face, and genitals.
