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Global Health Conversations
#23: Mpox Update 18/08/2024
This fortnight's Newsletter
We need to talk about Mpox - July 21st 2024 Newsletter
Timstamps:
Overview: 00:00
What happened? 03:47
What does it mean? 05:55
What’s next? 11:09
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tl;dr
On August 14, 2024, WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the ongoing Mpox outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), the second such declaration in two years. The Africa CDC had also declared Mpox a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security a day earlier. The current outbreak, driven by the more severe Mpox clade Ib, first identified in South Kivu, DRC, has rapidly spread across Central, East, and Southern Africa, reaching countries like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and South Africa, with the first European case detected in Sweden.
WHO’s ACT-A and FIND convened a high-level meeting on August 15 to coordinate global efforts to address the outbreak. Key priorities include enhancing surveillance, developing a strategic research agenda, and coordinating global health responses. The WHO Global Preparedness Monitoring Board emphasized the importance of robust systems and medical countermeasures in the response, drawing on lessons from previous pandemics.
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, is a zoonotic viral disease characterized by fever, rash, pustules, and swollen lymph nodes. The current clade Ib is more virulent and transmissible, though the exact case fatality rate remains uncertain. The 2022 Mpox PHEIC was declared after a global outbreak affecting over 95,000 people in 115 countries, largely through human-to-human transmission.
The PHEIC designation triggers a coordinated global response, including resource mobilization, increased surveillance, and public health measures. The response's success will depend on equitable distribution of medical resources and enhanced surveillance, particularly in underserved regions. WHO and Africa CDC emphasize the need for clear coordination, strategic implementation, and effective communication to manage the outbreak, with a focus on equity and access to diagnostics, vaccines, and therapeutics.
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Other links:
GPMB resources:
August 12th 2024 Statement on Mpox
May 20224 Report on Equity in Pandemic Preparedness
WHO Mpox Outbreak tool
WHO case tracker