HQ Team
November 11, 2024: The World Health Organization will hold an emergency meeting on November 22 to decide whether mpox continues to be a public health emergency of international concern.
In Africa, an additional 53 deaths have been reported in confirmed cases ā 43 in the Democratic Republic of Congo alone ā due to the disease, taking the toll to 1,081 in the January 1 to November 3 period, according to a WHO report.
The āWHO will convene the Emergency Committee on mpox to advise the WHO Director-General if mpox continues to constitute a public health emergency of international concern,ā on November 22.
As of November 3, three additional countriesā the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Zambia, and Zimbabwe āhave confirmed clade Ib mpox variant travel-related cases.Ā
Mpox spread
For the first time, local transmission of clade Ib variant was reported outside of Africa, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, where three (all) household members of the initial case (who had travelled to affected East African countries with clade Ib) were confirmed to have mpox.
The World Health Organization for the first time activated its emergency health network in eight countries affected by theĀ mpox outbreak, including the worst-hit Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi last month.
TheĀ Global Health Emergency Corps (GHEC), consisting of professional healthcare workers, experts and a network of technical leaders, were deployed to strengthen the response to the health emergency.
The WHO declared mpox as a public health emergency of international concern on August 14, 2024.
āRising trendā
āThe number of mpox cases in Africa shows a generally rising trend, driven mainly by cases reported from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, and Uganda,ā according to the statement.
In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the testing challenge persists in several provinces, hindering an understanding of the evolving epidemiology.
Eleven other countries have also reported clade Ib cases.
The first round of mpox vaccination has concluded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with around 51,500 people vaccinated across six provinces.
Burundi
In Burundi, the epidemic continues to be driven by clade Ib, with more than 200 laboratory-confirmed cases reported in the last two weeks.Ā
The epidemic is rapidly expanding in Uganda, where in the last week, more than 100 new confirmed mpox cases were reported. Transmission is driven by close intimate contact involving sexual contact and sex work networks.Ā
Rwanda has also reported a rising number of cases affecting adults, most of whom reported sexual contact with a person with mpox.
