WHO declares African mpox upsurge an international health emergency

The World Health Organization declared the mpox upsurge in Africa a public health emergency of international concern on 14 August 2024. The decision came one day after the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention issued its own continental public-health emergency.

Cases and deaths had risen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a new clade I lineage was spreading through sexual and close contact, including into neighbouring countries. Mpox epidemiology differs across settings; an emergency label does not mean every case has the same severity or transmission route.

WHO's emergency committee advised that coordinated international action was needed. Priorities included surveillance, diagnosis, clinical care, community engagement and equitable access to vaccines. African countries had faced endemic mpox burdens and limited resources long before global attention intensified.

The declaration did not automatically deliver doses or funding. Manufacturers, donors, regulators and health systems still had to translate the alert into supply and targeted programmes. Communication needed to reach affected networks without stigma or the false claim that risk was confined to one identity.

WHO records establish the determination and scope. This item is separate from the 2022 global mpox emergency, which had ended in 2023. It records a new assessment driven by African outbreaks and cross-border spread, preserving continuity of the disease while distinguishing the epidemiological episode.