'Mpox Virus Can Be Controlled and Stopped': WHO

'Transmission centered in DRC with 90% of the reported cases in 2024,’ says head of UN agency

ISTANBUL:

The World Health Organization secretary general said on Friday that the new mpox virus can be halted and brought under control.

“This new mpox outbreak can be controlled and stopped,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing of members of the WHO, a UN agency.

“Doing so requires concerted action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and you, our member states,” he added.

Stating more than 100,000 confirmed mpox cases have been reported to the WHO since the global outbreak began in 2022, he also reported an unprecedented increase in cases in Africa.

“Transmission is now centered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 90% of the reported cases in 2024. There have been more than 16,000 suspected cases – including 575 deaths – this year alone,” he said

Telling how the virus was declared a public health emergency of international concern, Tedros said that last month, cases of the Clade 1b strain of the virus were reported not only from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, which neighbor Congo, but also from Thailand and Sweden, where cases had not been previously reported.

Noting that the WHO and its partners have developed a Global mpox Virus Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to stop the outbreak through coordinated global, regional, and national efforts, he said: “The plan focuses on implementing comprehensive surveillance and response strategies; advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures; minimizing zoonotic transmission; and empowering communities to actively participate in outbreak prevention and control.”

Saying that the WHO has been working with a wide range of international, regional, national, and local partners to improve preparedness against the virus and enhance coordination in key areas of responses, he also noted that the WHO Regional Office for Africa will jointly lead the coordination of mpox response efforts in the African region, in collaboration with the Ethiopian-based Africa CDC, where the need is greatest.