WHO declares mpox global health emergency

CAIRO - 15 August 2024: The World Health Organization on Wednesday declared the ongoing mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency.

 

In the past year, the number of reported cases have increased dramatically, and the number of reported cases so far this year has already surpassed last year’s total, with more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths.

 

In the past month, about 90 cases of strain 1b have been reported in four countries neighboring the Democratic Republic of the Congo that have never reported monkeypox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.