The mpox outbreak in several African nations has slowed and countries have built up their responses to combat the virus, meaning the situation no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, the head of the World Health Organization said Friday.
“This decision is based on sustained declines in cases and deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in other affected countries, including Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Uganda,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing.
The WHO had declared the outbreak an emergency in August 2024, citing increasing transmission rates, fears of international spread, and the emergence of a new strain of the virus.
But this week, a panel of experts convened to advise Tedros on the issue concluded that an abating of the outbreak meant it no longer was a global threat, even as health officials stressed they needed to continue fighting the virus in the African countries where it’s spreading.
“Lifting the emergency declaration does not mean the threat is over, nor that our response will stop,” Tedros said.
Globally, there have been more than 34,000 confirmed mpox cases from the beginning of the year through July 31, leading to 138 deaths. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, the center of the outbreak, recorded more than 15,000 cases through Aug. 17, including 30 fatal cases. Uganda, Sierra Leone, and Burundi had the bulk of the rest of the cases.
In a situation report on the outbreak published last week, the WHO said that 21 African countries had reported ongoing transmission of the virus in the past six weeks, with different strains of the virus spreading in different parts of the continent.
A number of countries outside Africa, including China, Germany, Turkey, and the U.K., have identified cases, but they were linked to travel, not community spread.
Tedros and Dimie Ogoina, a Nigerian infectious disease expert and the chair of the mpox emergency committee advising the director-general, said health officials now had a better understanding of the transmission of the virus and the risk factors for more severe outcomes. While the infrastructure remained spotty in some places, they said that countries had expanded diagnostic access and surveillance, improved care systems, and built up vaccination networks. Tedros said just under 1 million doses of mpox vaccine have been administered.
“Mpox remains a public health concern, globally and especially in Africa, and there’s a need for us not to be complacent about the response strategy and not throw away what we have gained,” Ogoina said.
Ogoina said the emergency declaration had increased the political commitment to fighting the outbreak and helped mobilize resources, and said there needed to be a short- and long-term strategy to continue combatting the virus.
Tedros echoed that, noting that flare-ups of the virus were likely as it continued to circulate. He stressed the need to protect those most vulnerable to severe infections, like people with HIV and young children.
Mpox is believed to be carried by small rodents in some countries in Africa. It causes painful scarring rashes when contracted by people. People with mpox can also experience fever, muscle aches, headaches, and respiratory symptoms. The infection is especially dangerous in young children — most mpox deaths occur in children under the age of 5 — and people with compromised immune systems.
A public health emergency of international concern, or PHEIC, can be called in response to a disease event in which risk of cross-border spread is considered high and international cooperation will likely be needed to contain the threat. The declaration of a PHEIC gives the WHO director-general the authority to issue what are known as temporary recommendations — guidance to countries on steps they should take to address the problem.
A previous mpox emergency ran from July 2022 to May 2023, and was tied to the spread of the virus globally, including in the U.S., largely through sexual contact among men who have sex with men. It was the first time ongoing person-to-person spread of mpox was recorded.
