The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus, announced that over 18,000 suspected cases of Mpox have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) this year, resulting in 629 deaths.
Speaking during an online news conference on Friday, Ghebreyesus highlighted that the outbreak includes more than 5,000 cases and 31 deaths from the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, where the new clade 1b strain has been spreading rapidly.
While the number of clade 1b cases is rising, Ghebreyesus noted that the recent weeks have seen relatively few deaths.
Additionally, clade 1b has been confirmed in neighbouring countries, including 258 cases in Burundi, four in Rwanda, four in Uganda, one in Kenya, and one each in Sweden and Thailand.
Ghebreyesus, who recently returned from DRC, emphasized the need for clear communication with those at risk and strong community engagement to manage the Mpox outbreak.
He assured that WHO, alongside the Africa CDC and other partners, is fully committed to supporting the DRC government’s response.
WHO is also accelerating access to vaccines, with manufacturers submitting applications for emergency use listing, which is necessary for low-income countries to procure vaccines through GAVI and UNICEF.
DRC’s medicines regulator approved both vaccines in June, and WHO is coordinating donations from high-income countries to support the Mpox vaccination effort.
Despite the challenges posed by insecurity in the region, Ghebreyesus expressed optimism that the outbreak could be contained within the next six months, stressing the need for a political solution to the long-standing issues in the affected areas.
