The African Union’s health agency, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), has raised concerns over the ongoing mpox outbreak, describing it as “not yet under control” and calling for immediate resources to avoid what it warns could become a pandemic more severe than COVID-19.
In a recent briefing, Africa CDC’s Ngashi Ngongo reported that mpox cases continue to rise across the continent, with more than 1,100 deaths and approximately 48,000 cases recorded in Africa since the start of the year. Cases are increasing in 19 African countries, with Central Africa particularly hard-hit, accounting for 85.7% of cases and 99.5% of deaths. Most fatalities have been recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where vaccination efforts have recently been launched to curb the spread of the virus.
Ngongo emphasized the critical need for sustained political and financial support to contain mpox.
“Continuous political and financial mobilization is necessary to prevent mpox from developing into a pandemic which could be far more severe than COVID-19,” he stated.
The disease, which was formerly known as monkeypox, is caused by a virus transmitted from animals to humans, though it can also spread through close human contact. Symptoms include fever, body aches, swollen lymph nodes, and a blistering rash. The virus has two primary subtypes: clade 1 and clade 2. Recently, a new variant of mpox, clade 1b, was identified in the United Kingdom and has since appeared in Sweden and Germany.
Al Jazeera contributed to this report.
