Africa requires more than $220 million to sustain and scale up its response to the ongoing mpox outbreak, as the virus continues to spread within and beyond the continent.
This was revealed in a joint statement issued Thursday by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), following the update of their Continental Response Plan.
The revised plan outlines urgent priorities to control the outbreak, expand vaccination coverage, and transition toward a longer-term, sustainable response.
“Across countries and partners, over US$220 million is needed to fill funding gaps for the mpox response,” the statement reads.
The agencies emphasized that the updated Continental Response Plan calls for intensified efforts to curb the outbreak while integrating mpox into routine health services.
“Along with the Continental Response Plan for Africa, WHO has updated the global strategic plan to curb and, where feasible, stop human-to-human transmission of mpox.
“In the first two months of 2025, 60 countries reported mpox cases, with the majority of cases and deaths coming from the African continent. The joint Continental Response Plan is aligned with the global strategy,” it added.
Africa CDC and WHO continue to work closely with national governments, local communities, and partners to curb transmission, control the outbreak, and strengthen long-term resilience within public health systems.
Mpox is a viral illness that spreads between people, mainly through close contact. It causes painful skin and mucosal lesions, often accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, fatigue, and swollen lymph nodes. The disease can be debilitating and disfiguring.
According to the agencies, mpox, historically a zoonotic disease transmitted from infected animals, has increasingly shown a tendency to spread between people.
“In 2022, a variant of the virus, clade IIb, began spreading globally through sexual contact. Since late 2023, yet another viral strain, clade Ib, began spreading through sexual networks, within households, and through close contact.
“This prompted the Africa CDC to declare a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security and the WHO Director-General to declare a Public Health Emergency of International Concern in August 2024.
“By August 2024, the virus had begun spreading from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to four neighboring countries. Since then, 28 countries around the world have reported cases of mpox due to clade Ib,” they stated.
Mpox transmission in Africa
The agencies emphasized that, outside Africa, cases of mpox remain largely travel-related.
“However, within Africa, in addition to transmission in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, local transmission has now been documented in additional countries including the Republic of the Congo, South Africa, South Sudan, the United Republic of Tanzania, and Zambia.
“Since the declaration of the emergency, both regional and global support has increased, particularly for the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak,” it stated.
Key pillars of the response plan
In response, the Africa CDC and WHO Joint Continental Mpox Plan has guided these efforts, focusing on ten key pillars: coordination, risk communication and community engagement, disease surveillance, laboratory capacity, clinical management, infection prevention and control, vaccination, research, logistics, and maintaining essential health services.
“Vaccination efforts are underway, with more than 650,000 doses administered in 6 countries, 90% of which have been administered in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
“Overall, over a million doses have been delivered to 10 countries, with efforts ongoing to secure additional vaccine supplies,” it stated.
Expansion of diagnostic testing capacity
The agencies noted that diagnostic testing capacity in the Democratic Republic of the Congo has grown significantly, driven by the expansion of laboratory infrastructure from 2 laboratories in late 2023 to 23 laboratories in 12 provinces today.
“With new, near-point-of-care tests currently being rolled out in the country, capacity is expected to increase even further.”
They added that, despite this progress, major challenges remain. Ongoing conflict and insecurity in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, where the incidence of mpox remains high, as well as humanitarian aid cuts, continue to limit the public health response and restrict access to essential services.
