WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency

Cases are up 160% and deaths are up 19% compared with the same period last year

This photo supplied by MSF (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

The World Health Organisation has declared the mpox outbreaks in Africa a global emergency, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading.

Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.