WHO Declares Mpox Outbreaks in Africa a Global Health Emergency

TIME

The World Health Organization has declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.

Transcript

00:00Last week, I announced that I was convening an emergency committee under the International

00:06Health Regulations to evaluate the upsurge of MPOCs in the Democratic Republic of the

00:13Congo and other countries in Africa.

00:17Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that, in its view, the situation constitutes

00:25a public health emergency of international concern.

00:29I have accepted that advice.

00:33The detection and rapid spread of a new clade of MPOCs in eastern DRC, its detection in

00:40neighboring countries that had not previously reported MPOCs, and the potential for further

00:45spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying.

00:51In addition to other outbreaks of other clades of MPOCs in other parts of Africa, it is clear

00:58that a coordinated international response is essential to stop these outbreaks and

01:03save lives.

01:05A public health emergency of international concern is the highest level of alarm under

01:10international law.

01:13The emergency committee's advice to me and that of the African CDC Centers for Disease

01:19Control and Prevention, which yesterday declared a public health emergency of regional security,

01:26are aligned.

01:27WHO is on the ground, working with the affected countries and others at risk through our country

01:35and regional offices, as well as with partners including the African CDC, NGOs, civil society

01:42and more.

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