The World Health Organization declared that a mpox outbreaka viral infection that spreads through close contact, represents a global health emergency for the second time in two years.
Here’s what that means.
WHAT IS A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY?
A “public health emergency of international concern” or PHEIC is the WHO’s highest form of alert. It is announced when diseases spread in new or unusual ways and is intended to galvanize international cooperation and funding. to deal with an outbreakThe WHO statement follows a similar label issued by the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
WHY IS MPOX AN EMERGENCY AGAIN?
Two years ago, WHO declared human papillomavirus disease an emergency when a form of the disease began spreading globally, primarily among men who have sex with men. That outbreak was brought under control because behavioral changes and safe sex practices, as well as vaccines, helped at-risk people protect themselves in many countries.
But MPOX has been a public health problem in parts of Africa for decades. The first human case was recorded in the Congo in 1970 and there have been outbreaks since then.
The current outbreak, the worst in Congo’s history, has caused 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths since January 2023, mostly among children. The disease causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled sores and is usually mild but can be fatal. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, are at higher risk of complications.
Currently two strains of mpox are spreading in the country: endemic form of the virus and a new branch.
This new form of the virus has raised global concern because it appears to be spreading rapidly and little is known about it. It is transmitted through sexual contact and other close contacts (such as among children in displacement camps in parts of Congo) and has now spread from eastern Congo to Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Scientists hope the emergency declarations will speed up efforts to secure more medical tools and funding to help Congolese authorities deal with the outbreak. Better surveillance is needed to study the virus and help stop its spread.
But in 2022, a WHO appeal for $34 million to fight mpox went unanswered by donors, and there was huge inequality in who had access to vaccine doses. African countries did not have access to the two vaccines used in the global outbreak, made by Bavarian Nordic and KM Biologics. Two years later, that remains the case, though efforts are underway to change that, WHO said in appealing for donations of doses from countries that have stockpiles. The Africa CDC also said it has a plan to secure doses, without elaborating, but supplies are currently limited.
HOW CONCERNED SHOULD I BE?
Mpox is a major health problem that is killing some of the world’s most vulnerable people, including children, and a form of it may be spreading in new ways and to new parts of Africa.
But this is not about COVID-19. So far, there is no evidence that it spreads through the air as easily as COVID, and there are tools that have been proven to work to stop the spread and help people at risk.
The challenge now, which the emergency declarations are meant to highlight, is to ensure that these tools reach those who need them most, in Congo and neighbouring countries.
(With information from Reuters)
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