The World Health Organization (WHO) declared a health emergency this week, involving the spread of mpox (what was called “monkey pox") in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (D.R.C.), and now into Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. (The Africa Union Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had previously declared this a health emergency.) The WHO counts over 14,000 cases and 524 deaths this year.
“On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in D.R.C. and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed to stop these outbreaks and save lives,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Aug. 14. His pronouncement followed the decision of the WHO emergency committee that the recent surge in infections had the potential to spread across Africa and possibly outside the continent. Dr. Tedros added that the virus “appears to be spreading mainly through sexual networks,” which he characterized as “especially concerning.” The WHO has long designated gay men as a key demographic affected by the virus.
The chair of the WHO Emergency Committee, Professor Dimie Ogoina, stated: “The current upsurge of mpox in parts of Africa, along with the spread of a new sexually transmissible strain of the monkeypox virus, is an emergency not only for Africa, but for the entire globe. Mpox, originating in Africa, was neglected there, and later caused a global outbreak in 2022. It is time to act decisively to prevent history from repeating itself.”