The head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has said the agency is likely to declare a continental public health emergency over the growing mpox outbreak.
The Africa CDC’s director general, Dr Jean Kaseya, said on Thursday that because of the increase in mpox cases and its continued spread across borders, he had resolved to start “active engagement” with African Union member states to prevent the outbreak from becoming “another pandemic”.
“We are committed to mobilising resources and providing technical assistance to affected countries to control the outbreak,” said Kaseya.
A total of 887 new confirmed and suspected cases of mpox have been reported on the continent this past week, pushing the year’s total to 15,132, according to data presented at the briefing. The cases have increased by 160% compared with the same time period last year.
Sixteen countries have reported cases of the disease so far, including the Democratic Republic of Congo, which has more than 90% of them, and 461 people have died from it this year.
Some countries – Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda – have reported it for the first time ever, Kaseya said. “This new incident demonstrates the need for a collective and collaborative approach in curbing the spread of the disease,” he added.
Kaseya’s announcement came a day after the World Health Organization director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he would convene an emergency committee to determine whether the spread of mpox on the continent should be declared a global emergency.
The process of declaring a continental public health emergency entails technical and strategic consultation between the Africa CDC, which is an agency of the 55-member African Union, and affected member states. An extraordinary summit for heads of state follows to discuss a response.
Mpox is a viral disease that causes painful rashes and flu-like symptoms such as fever, headaches and body aches. The virus that causes it comes from the same family as that of smallpox. It spreads from person to person and from animals to people through direct contact.
In May, scientists reported a new strain of the virus in the DRC that they said was more virulent and might spread more easily. First recorded in a human in 1970 in what is now the DRC, mpox was declared a global emergency in 2022 when it spread to more than 70 countries.
While countries in the west have controlled the spread of the disease through vaccines, Kaseya cited their shortage in Africa as a major challenge in controlling its spread on the continent, saying there were only 200,000 doses available compared with a demand of at least 10m. He said Africa CDC was working with international partners to secure more vaccines.
Last week, the AU made an emergency approval of $10.4m (£8.2m) to Africa CDC to support efforts to combat the mpox outbreak.
