WHO declares MPOX a global health emergency

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COPD in Africa a global public health emergency on Wednesday, sounding the loudest possible alarm as the situation worsens.

The WHO has convened a meeting of experts to study the outbreak and make a recommendation to the UN health agency’s director-general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Today, the emergency committee met and informed me that, in their view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press conference.

“This is something that should concern us all.

“WHO is committed to coordinating the global response in the days and weeks ahead, working closely with each affected country and leveraging its presence on the ground, to prevent transmission, treat those infected and save lives.”

The move comes after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its own public health emergency over the growing outbreak.

The Mpox virus spread through the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus formerly known as monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970, and has spread to other countries.

Tedros said the more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths reported so far this year in the DRC have already surpassed last year’s total.

“The emergence last year and rapid spread of clade 1b in the DRC, which appears to be spreading primarily through sexual networks, and its detection in countries neighbouring the DRC are of particular concern and are one of the main reasons for my decision to convene this emergency committee,” he said as he opened the emergency committee meeting.

“In the past month, approximately 90 cases of clade 1b have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that had not previously reported cases of MPOS: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.”

– USPCI Status –

A Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) is the highest alarm WHO can sound.

A declaration of a PHEIC triggers emergency responses in countries around the world under the legally binding International Health Regulations.

This is the second consecutive PHEIC on mpox — although it focuses on a different, more deadly strain of the virus.

In May 2022, MPOX infections increased worldwide, mainly affecting gay and bisexual men, due to the clade 2b subclade.

The WHO declared a public health emergency that lasted from July 2022 to May 2023. The outbreak, now largely under control, caused some 140 deaths out of around 90,000 cases.

The subclade of clade 1b, which has been active in the DRC since September 2023, causes more severe disease than clade 2b, with a higher mortality rate.

Sheeppox is an infectious disease caused by a virus transmitted to humans by infected animals, but it can also be transmitted from human to human through close physical contact.

The disease causes fever, muscle aches and large, boil-like skin lesions.

Two vaccines against MPOX are recommended by WHO vaccination experts.

A PHEIC has only been declared seven times since 2009: for H1N1 swine flu, poliovirus, Ebola, Zika virus, Ebola again, Covid-19 and MPOX.

– Preparation and resources –

Marion Koopmans, director of the Centre for Pandemic and Disaster Management at Erasmus University Rotterdam, said a PHEIC “raises the level of alert, globally, and can allow WHO to access funds for an emergency response.”

However, “the same priorities remain: investing in diagnostic capacity, public health response, treatment support and vaccination,” she said, warning that this would be a challenge because the DRC and its neighbours are under-resourced.

And at the global level, “despite basic public health resources and capacities, the international epidemic that began in 2022 has not been brought under control.”

The Red Cross said it was stepping up preparedness measures across Africa, particularly in badly affected eastern DRC.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has expressed “deep concern” about the spread of the virus.

With its extensive network, the IFRC said it was ready to “play a crucial role in containing the spread of the disease, even in hard-to-reach areas where the needs are greatest.”

AFP