BREAKING: WHO declares outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads

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From the Associated Press: The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, 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.

Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the mpox outbreaks were a public health emergency, with more than 500 deaths, and called for international help to stop the virus’ spread.

“This is something that should concern us all … The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Africa CDC previously said mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up 160% and deaths are up 19% compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 people have died.

The report further explains that the World Health Organization had first declared mpox to be a global emergency in 2022, after it spread to more than 70 countries that had not previously reported mpox, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men.

In that outbreak, fewer than 1% of people died. In the current outbreak, the death rate is reportedly about 3-4%.

In a press conference on Wednesday, Ghebreyesus announced the global health emergency, and begged for money to help address it:

“WHO is on the ground, working with the affected countries, and others at risk, through our country and regional offices, as well as with partners including the @AfricaCDC, NGOs, civil society and more.

For example, we are providing machines to analyze blood samples and confirm cases of mpox;

We’re supporting laboratories to sequence viral samples;
We’re on the ground supporting case investigation and contact tracing, risk communication and community engagement;
We’re training health workers and supporting clinicians to provide appropriate care;
We’re supporting countries to access vaccines and develop the strategies to roll them out; And much more..

“To fund this work, WHO has developed a regional response plan, requiring an initial $15 million.

We have released $1.45 million from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies, and we plan to release more in the coming days. We are also appealing to donors to fund the rest of the response plan”-

Meanwhile, tens of thousands of illegal aliens from all over Africa have crossed the southern border into the United States over the past year.

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