The Africa Centers for Disease Control (CDC) has declared Mpox a public health emergency.
Urging countries to take immediate action to control the further spread of the disease, the Africa CDC Director-General, Dr Jean Kaseya on Tuesday warned that this declaration should not be treated as a mere formality.
“This declaration is not merely a formality. It is a clarion call to action. It is a recognition that we can no longer afford to be reactive. We must be proactive and aggressive in our efforts to contain and eliminate this threat”.
Mpox, a disease caused by monkeypox virus, has so far spread to 18 countries in Africa including Uganda where the Ministry of Health recently declared that two positive individuals had been confirmed positive after they entered the country from the neighboring DR Congo.
The CDC reports that there has been a surge in infections that started in Central Africa with a new strain of the virus spreading quickly to other countries on the continent including the DR Congo where they report a new variant known as Clade Ib is spreading more quickly affecting children more than adults.
The health body reveals that more than 15,000 cases and 461 deaths have been recorded on the continent this year alone. While the disease is commonly known for causing pus-filled lesions on the skin of the affected, it also causes flu-like symptoms and is spread through close contact.
Meanwhile, in 2022, the World Health Organisation declared a public health emergency of international concern for a milder version of the disease but later lifted this status announcing that the outbreak had been controlled. That version of the disease was mainly being spread through sexual intercourse.
Now, as an intervention, Kaseya told a news conference on Tuesday that there are plans to secure some vaccines to satisfy the current need estimated at 10 million doses. So far he says only about 200,000 doses are available.
