Nairobi, Kenya
Thursday, August 14, 2024
The African Union’s health agency on Tuesday declared a โpublic health emergencyโ, its highest alert level, in the face of the continent’s growing mpox epidemic, issuing a โclear call to actionโ to halt its spread.
A total of 38,465 cases of the disease, formerly known as monkeypox, have been reported in 16 African countries since January 2022, with 1,456 deaths, including a 160% increase in cases in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to data published last week by health agency Africa CDC.
โ๐๐ฉ๐จ๐ฑ ๐ก๐๐ฌ ๐ง๐จ๐ฐ ๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ๐๐ ๐๐จ๐ซ๐๐๐ซ๐ฌ, ๐๐๐๐๐๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐จ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ง๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐ ๐๐๐ซ๐จ๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐๐ง๐ญ (…) ๐ ๐๐ง๐ง๐จ๐ฎ๐ง๐๐, ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐๐ซ๐ญ ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ข๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ง ๐ฎ๐ง๐ฐ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐ฉ๐๐จ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐, ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐๐ซ๐ข๐๐๐ง ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐๐ง๐ฌ, ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ซ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฆ๐ฉ๐จ๐ฑ ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ญ๐ข๐ง๐๐ง๐ญ๐๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ ๐ก๐๐๐ฅ๐ญ๐ก ๐๐ฆ๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ฒโ,Africa CDC president Jean Kaseya told a press conference.
โThis declaration is not a mere formality, it’s a clear call to action. It’s a recognition that we can no longer afford to be reactive. We must be proactive and aggressive in our efforts to contain and eliminate this scourge,โ he added.
This announcement, which in particular will enable funds to be released for access to vaccines and a continental response, comes on the eve of a meeting of the World Health Organization’s (WHO) emergency committee to assess whether to declare the highest level of international health alert in the face of this disease.
– New strain –
For Boghuma Titanji, Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Department of Medicine at Emory University in the USA, the Africa CDC announcement is โa crucial stepโ in improving coordination within African countries and encouraging them to release funds to combat the epidemic.
โOver-reliance on external aid has highlighted a major flaw in current response efforts,โ the Cameroon-born expert noted in a statement.
Africa is facing the spread of a new strain of the virus, detected in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) in September 2023 and dubbed โClade Ibโ, which is deadlier and more transmissible than previous strains.
Cases have been reported in various parts of the continent (Morocco, Egypt, Sudan, Ivory Coast, Liberia, Nigeria, DRC, Rwanda, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa…).
On Tuesday, the United States said it was โin close coordinationโ with the DRC, other affected countries and health organizations.
โWe are closely monitoring the spread of mpox in Central Africa. We’re delighted to see international leadership in this area,โ State Department spokesman Vedant Patel told reporters.
According to the Africa CDC, the virus has a case-fatality rate of over 3%, and children under 15 are the most affected, accounting for at least 60% of cases.
Mpox is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted by close physical contact with a person infected with the virus.
Clade Ibโ causes rashes all over the body, whereas previous strains were characterized by localized rashes and lesions on the mouth, face or genitals.
Mpox was first discovered in humans in 1970 in what the DRC (ex-Zaire) is now, with the spread of the Clade I subtype (of which the new variant is a mutation), since then mainly confined to countries in West and Central Africa, with sufferers generally contaminated by infected animals.
In 2022, a worldwide epidemic of the clade 2 subtype spread to around a hundred countries where the disease was not endemic, mainly affecting homosexual and bisexual men.
The WHO declared a maximum alert in July 2022 in response to this worldwide outbreak, then lifted it less than a year later, in May 2023. The epidemic claimed some 140 lives out of an estimated 90,000 cases.
According to Mr. Titanji, this WHO alert had not, however, โled to any significant improvement in access to diagnostics, treatment or vaccines for African countriesโ.
Humaniterre with AFP