GENEVA – The head of the World Health Organization said on Wednesday he will convene a group of experts to determine whether the growing spread of the mpox virus in Africa warrants declaring a global emergency.
At a press conference in Geneva, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that given the increasing spread of mpox cases beyond Congo, he decided to ask independent experts to advise the WHO “as quickly as possible”.
Last week, The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that mpox, also known as monkeypox, has now been detected in 10 African countries this year, including Congo, which has more than 96% of all cases and deaths. Compared to the same period last year, the agency said cases increased by 160% and deaths increased by 19%.
Africa CDC officials said nearly 70% of cases in Congo are in children under the age of 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths.
Mpox was reported last week in Burundi and Rwanda for the first time, while other countries, including Kenya and the Central African Republic, have also identified cases.
WHO’s Tedros said the agency has released $1 million from its emergency fund to support the response to mpox, also known as monkeypox.
Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of the deadliest version of mpox, which can kill up to 10% of people, in a Congolese mining town that they feared could spread more easily among people. Mpox spreads through close contact with infected people, including through sex.
In 2022, the WHO declared mpox as a global emergency after spreading to more than 70 countries, mainly affecting gay and bisexual men. Before that outbreakthe disease had mainly been observed in sporadic epidemics in Central and West Africa when people came into contact with infected animals.
Most Western countries have prevented the spread of mpox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few of these are available in Africa.
Maria Van Kerkhove, who leads the WHO’s outbreak department, said there are numerous issues of concern in Africa’s mpox epidemic and called for a more urgent response.
“We don’t want the world to sit back and watch and wait,” she said. “The time to act is now.”
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