Since the beginning of 2024, Africa has recorded a total of 132.954 cases (30.668 confirmed by analysis) and 1.761 deaths (176 confirmed) due to infection by the virus that causes Mpox, the African Union's public health agency revealed today. This virus is like a yo-yo, with its cases decreasing and increasing, which leaves health authorities concerned about its trend.

“We are in the midst of a continental security emergency”.

Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), said at a press conference. Kaseya admitted that he thought cases were decreasing, but instead, there has been a significant increase and even new outbreaks recently.

For this reason, the Africa CDC Emergency Advisory Group plans to meet in late May to review the situation and assess whether Mpox, a disease known as monkeypox, should still be considered a continental public health security emergency, as declared by the agency in August last year.

The Africa CDC intends to meet with its experts to determine how they can prevent this disease from continuing to be not only a continental security problem, but also a global public health issue.

According to CDC data for Africa, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Burundi, Uganda, and Sierra Leone continue to be the most affected countries, accounting for 98,1% of all new confirmed cases reported last week.

More than 58% of infections confirmed last week were concentrated in Sierra Leone alone, where the agency plans to send a team of about 25 health professionals to address the crisis.

According to Kaseya, the agency will bring in epidemiologists to understand the situation on the ground, laboratory experts to strengthen the country's capacity, community support colleagues to train more community health workers, and infection prevention and control colleagues to manage cases.

“I want to stop this outbreak in Sierra Leone to prevent it from spreading to other West African countries.”, Kaseya stressed.

The DRC remains the epicenter of the epidemic, with 101.460 cases (18.354 confirmed) and 1.761 deaths (107 confirmed) since the beginning of 2024, concentrated in the east of the country. In terms of vaccines, eleven African countries have already received doses, and seven of them have already begun immunizing their populations.

More than 632.000 people have been vaccinated across the continent, but more doses are still needed to control the epidemic, the agency said. According to Yap Boum, the CDC's deputy incident manager for Africa, the continent is far short of its vaccine needs.

According to the agency's continental vaccination strategy, Africa needs a total of 6,4 million doses by August. The AU health agency declared MPOX a continental public health security emergency on August 13, 2024, and the following day, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced an international health alert for the disease.

Mpox virus infection is an infectious disease that can cause a painful rash, swollen lymph nodes, fever, headaches, muscle aches, back pain, and lack of energy.