(Bloomberg) -- Declaring the fast-spreading mpox outbreak in Africa a global health emergency gives the World Health Organization an opportunity to fix mistakes that previously gave the continent little help, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called mpox a public health emergency of international concern on Wednesday as cases climbed, a day after the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared a continent-wide version for the first time.
Tedros last called a PHEIC for the disease in May 2022 as a milder strain erupted globally. While the WHO lowered its alert level a year later, the disease continued to increase in Africa.
“This PHEIC must be different and correct the unfair treatment from the previous one declared in 2022, where vaccines and therapeutics were developed and made available primarily to Western countries, with little support extended to Africa,” Ramaphosa, speaking in his capacity as the head of the African Union’s pandemic prevention and response unit, said in statement Saturday.
The spread of the new strain of mpox from the Democratic Republic of Congo that has resulted in 17,541 cases and 517 deaths across 13 African countries shows “a concerning shift in the epidemiological pattern,” Ramaphosa said. Three more countries said they were investigating suspected cases this week.
With the number of reported cases this year surging by 160% compared to the same period in 2023, the African Union has released $10.4 million from the Covid-19 Fund to support the mpox outbreak response.
“I call upon WHO and all partners to collaborate closely with Africa CDC to ensure that this PHEIC unlocks appropriate support from the international community, guaranteeing equitable access to medical countermeasures, including diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines,” he said.
WHO has developed a regional response plan requiring an initial $15 million. It’s already made available about $1.5 million from a contingency fund for emergencies, and plans to release more in the coming days as it appeals to donors to fund the rest of the response plan.
Africa CDC’s Director General Jean Kaseya has said the continent needs 10 million doses and that the shots are very expensive. Bavarian Nordic A/S, one of the few companies with an approved mpox vaccine, has said it will be able to meet the immunization needs of African nations.
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