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WHO Lifts Global Mpox Emergency After Decline in African Outbreak

WHO cited sustained declines across Congo plus similar trends in nearby countries.

TOPSHOT - A clinician prepares a syringe with the mpox vaccine during the launch of the vaccination campaign at the General Hospital of Goma, on October 5, 2024. The Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicentre of an mpox epidemic, launched a vaccination campaign against the virus on October 5, 2024 in the eastern city of Goma. The first vaccines were administered to hospital staff, with the program due to target the general population from October 7, 2024 in the east of the country, where the current outbreak started a year ago. (Photo by Aubin Mukoni / AFP) (Photo by AUBIN MUKONI/AFP via Getty Images)
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Mpox causes large boil-like skin lesions
WHO says mpox no longer a global public health emergency

Overview

  • Director-General Tedros accepted his emergency panel’s recommendation following Thursday’s review.
  • WHO said the threat persists and the response will continue, with the situation still deemed a continental emergency in Africa.
  • Reported data through July show more than 34,000 confirmed cases and 138 deaths across 84 countries, including over 15,000 in the DRC.
  • Officials pointed to improved understanding of transmission and stronger national capacities, alongside delivery of over three million vaccine doses to 12 countries with about one million administered.
  • The PHEIC was declared in August 2024 to address a DRC-centered epidemic involving clade 1a and a newly identified clade 1b, following the 2022 global spread of clade 2.