AFRICA – 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. (The Guardian)…[+]