Mpox: Globe must learn lessons of Covid-19

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The world has yet to fully recover from the Covid-19 pandemic, but already another health emergency is sparking global concern. Nearly 28,000 suspected and confirmed cases of mpox (formerly known as monkeypox) and 738 deaths have been reported from 15 African Union member states this year, according to a 16 September update from Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC). While Africa most escaped the worst of Covid-19, due mostly to its young and dispersed population, the continent finds itself on the frontline of the mpox outbreak.

In August Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, directorgeneral of the World Health Organization (WHO),determined that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and a growing number of other countries in Africa constitutes a “public health emergency of international concern”. A new mpox virus strain, clade 1b, emerged and spread rapidly in DRC last year. It appears to be spreading mainly through sexual networks, and its detection in countries neighbouring the DRC is one of the main reasons the WHO cited for the declaration of the emergency.

Tedros said, “The emergence of a new clade of mpox, its rapid spread in eastern DRC, and the reporting of cases in several neighbouring countries are very worrying. On top of outbreaks of other mpox clades in DRC and other countries in Africa, it’s clear that a coordinated international response is needed