Mpox cases are soaring in Africa — what must be done to prevent a global pandemic

Virologist Cheryl Walter sets out some of the reasons the outbreaks there are so worrying and what must be done to prevent another global pandemic

This photo supplied by Doctors Without Borders dated May 31, 2023, shows health workers educating children on the symptoms of the mpox disease in Goma, Congo. Picture: Augustin Mudiayi/Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières via AP

Alarmed by the surge in mpox cases, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention has taken the unprecedented step of declaring the outbreak sweeping through African countries a continental public health emergency. A day later, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak constituted a global health emergency.

These moves come after a virulent strain of the disease spread rapidly to 16 countries and six new countries were affected in 10 days.