United States: The WHO is urgently discussing a potential declaration of an international public health emergency as a deadly strain of mpox rapidly spreads across Africa.
Recently, Kenya and the Central African Republic declared new outbreaks as the affected regions tried to contain the disease amid a shortage of vaccines.
More about the news
According to several reports published in Science, proper administration of vaccines and effective public health surveillance could effectively contain the spread of the killer virus, which has the potency to kill three percent of those contacted with the new variety of currently prevailing strain in Africa this year, which spread through sex, reported the Axios reports.
The WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus posted on X on Sunday that he is planning to have an advisory committee talk about the required declaration of a health emergency.
He added that local governments and associated parties are scaling up a response. However, there is a shortage of sufficient funds and support from the global community.
The public health minister of the Central African Republic, Pierre Somsé, stated, “We are very concerned about the cases of monkeypox, which is ravaging region 7 of the country,” as AP News reported.
More about Mpox spread
Across the world, the focus has been on mpox spread, which has been raising concerns since an international outbreak in 2022, during which the spread did take place in over a hundred countries.
Additionally, as Axios reported, it has been an epidemic in several parts of central and west Africa for decades.
According to the statement by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, mpox, also known by a previously known name, monkeypox, has risen by 160 percent in Africa this year compared to 2023.
The majority of the cases were in the e Democratic Republic of the Con; however, outbreaks have been replaced in almost fifteen countries.