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The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has declared mpox a public health emergency of continental security.

“With a heavy heart but with an unyielding commitment to our people, to our African citizens, we declare mpox as public health emergency of continental security,” the Director General of the Africa CDC, Jean Kaseya said during a special online press briefing on Tuesday.

Professor Salim Abdool Karim said there were “far more cases now” in Africa than even when the World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency (PHEIC) between July 2022 and May 2023.

“We looked at the evidence and we reflected on that evidence in relation to a set of criteria that had been developed by the Africa CDC. The criteria were very helpful and very comprehensive. So, when we looked at it in relation to those criteria, we were able to pinpoint the areas that we need most to understand and to reflect on,” Karim said.

Karim also noted that there was concern because there were new cases being reported in countries that previously did not have cases.

“The evidence we have does not seem to be that it’s zoonotic transmission, in other words, from an animal reservoir. It seems to be mostly from human to human transmission.”

He also said there was a challenge presented by a lack of diagnostic capability, citing an example of the Democratic Republic of Congo, where there were no laboratory results in more than half of all reported cases. The availability of vaccines and how to effectively administer them was also a challenge.

According to the World Health Organization, at least 15 countries have reported an mpox outbreak, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo accounting for more than 90 percent of the reported cases.

This year, at least 2,030 confirmed cases and 13 deaths have been reported so far, compared to 1,145 cases and seven deaths reported during the whole of 2023.