Health workers in conflict-ridden Congo struggle to contain Mpox outbreak

Mpox outbreaks in Congo pose global health emergency, spreading in conflict-ridden areas with limited healthcare access.

Health authorities have struggled to contain outbreaks of Mpox in Congo, a huge central African country where a myriad of existing problems makes stemming the spread particularly hard.

Last month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the outbreaks in Congo and about a dozen other African countries a global health emergency. And in Congo, scientists have identified a new strain of Mpox that may spread more easily.

It has reached areas where conflict and the displacement of a large number of people have already put health services under pressure.

Overall, Congo has more than 21,000 of the 25,093 confirmed and suspected Mpox cases in Africa this year, according to WHO’s most recent count.

Congo is one of the African countries where Mpox has been endemic for decades.

Mpox, once known as monkeypox, comes from the same family of viruses as smallpox but causes milder symptoms such as fever. People with more serious cases can develop skin lesions.

More than 720 people in Africa have died in the latest outbreaks, mostly in Congo.