The general director of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, announced on Friday the lifting of the international health emergency by the MPOX (sympathy), declared since August of last year, given the decrease in cases in specially affected countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Sierra Leone and Uganda.
“A committee has gathered every three months To evaluate the epidemic, this Thursday did it again, I advised me to stop considering it an international emergency and I have accepted the recommendation, “he told a press conference.
It was the second international emergency for this viral disease that the WHO had declared, after which he decreed Between 2022 and 2023in that case with numerous cases also in European and American countries, while this time the outbreaks were mostly limited to African nations.
In 2024 at least 18,000 cases of the different variants of the disease were confirmed, this year the figure rises to 31,000, and Mortal cases exceed 200.
Some 29,000 cases and 28 deaths since 2024 have occurred in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and other affected countries have been Uganda (almost 8,000 infections and 50 deaths) or Sierra Leone (5,200 positive, 56 deaths).
Tedros said that emergency lifting “It does not mean that the threat is over or that our answer will stop,” And he recalled that the African Union, through its centers for disease control and prevention (CDC), maintains the continental alert.
“The possibility of new rebounds and outbreaks persists, What requires maintaining active response capacity and continuous efforts to protect the most vulnerable groups, in particular children and people who live with HIV, “said the Ethiopian expert.
Despite this, said the head of the WHO Health Agency, in recent years progress has been made in the Knowledge of the factors of Mpox’s outbreaks and the response capacity, which has included the distribution of up to six million vaccines against the virus.
Tedros also stressed that WHO maintains certain recommendations for the prevention of this disease at least August 2026.
Taking into account the two sanitary emergencies, from 2022 to the present more than 150,000 cases of MPOX have been confirmed in the world, with at least 377 deaths.
Ebola outbreak response
In addition, Ghebreyesus has announced that the agency has provided the Congo Democratic Republic (RDC) government (RDC) to the Government of the Congo 500 million dollars (425.6 million euros) to help in his response against the newly declared outbreak of Ebola Zaire in the province of Kasai.
“So far, they have been notified 28 suspicious cases and 16 deaths, including four health workers. The WHO already has land personnel in Kasai and is sending more personal (…) To finance the answer, WHO has released US $ 500,000 from our contingency fund related to emergencies, and we call on donors to support the answer, “said Tedros during a press conference.
In addition to joining your staff to the country’s quick response equipment to track contacts and identify cases, WHO has also delivered Personal protective equipment, laboratory equipment, medical supplies and a mobile laboratory.
“The government has a Extensive experience in previous shoots. I thank the government for leadership in response to this outbreak and transparency by declaring it quickly and sharing the viral sequence, “he added.
As part of the answer, samples are being collected and analyzed; providing technical experience in surveillance, prevention and control; either In risk communication, among other issues. Previously, 2,000 doses of the Ebola vaccine had been prepared in Kinshasa, the capital of the country, which are already being distributed to the affected regions.
The RDC government declared the outbreak after performing a laboratory analysis in the National Biomedical Research Institute (INRB) of Kinshasawhich has confirmed as positive cases of the towns of Bulape and Mweka that presented symptoms such as fever, vomiting, diarrhea and hemorrhage.
Among the current fatal victims of the outbreak are Two nurses, a laboratory technician and another health professional of the town, as confirmed by the Emergency Response program of the WHO, Patrick Otim.
This is the 16 Ebola outbreak that affects the country since 1976, being the deadest that took place between 2018 and 2020, with 3,481 cases, 2,299 deaths and 1,162 survivors. The last outbreak was notified in April 2022 in the northwestern province of Equateur, which was controlled in less than three months. The province of Kasai was already affected by outbreaks in 2007 and 2008, being the deadliest of 2007, with more than 260 cases and 187 deaths.
Cholera extends in Sudan
For its part, the outbreak of anger that affects Sudanplunged into chaos after more than two years of civil war, has already extended to all its 18 states, with more than 105,000 cases and 2,600 deathsthe general director of the World Health Organization reported Friday.
Despite access difficulties, WHO has managed to participate in vaccination campaigns Against anger in that country, which have benefited 3.5 million people, and will soon try to reach another 2 million in the western region of Darfur, said the general director at a press conference.
Tedros recalled that Sudan, comparable to the situation in Gaza, suffers a food crisis with more than 770,000 children with severe acute malnutrition Only this year.
The health and food crisis is even more serious in the state of Darfur del Norte, where its main city, The phase, It has been besieged more than 500 days.
In that city “more than 260,000 people need urgent health care, 35 health centers have been destroyed, there are 5,000 cases suspected of anger and 98 deaths, And 130,000 children suffer from malnutrition, “the head of the WHO listed.
