(VOVWORLD) - The African Union’s health watchdog on Tuesday declared the growing monkey pox or mpox outbreak a public health emergency.
 An mpox patient's hands (Photo: apa) |
Mpox has gone beyond borders, affecting thousands of people across the continent, said Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, at an online media briefing. The situation is particularly serious in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
According to CDC data, as of August 4 there had been more than 38,000 cases of mpox and more than 1,400 deaths in Africa since January 2022. The affected countries include Burundi, Cameroon, Congo, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Uganda, and Kenya.
The World Health Organization’s emergency committee will meet on Wednesday to decide whether to trigger its highest alert level for the mpox outbreak.