Mpox Outbreak in Africa
Recent Developments
01As of April 2026, CDC said the DRC remained the country with the majority of clade Ib cases, with continued transmission in Central and Eastern Africa.
02WHO reported in November 2025 that community transmission of clade Ib persisted in Burundi, the DRC, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Republic of Congo, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.
03WHO reported that as of 24 November 2025, 43 new confirmed clade Ib cases had been reported across six WHO regions outside areas with sustained community transmission.
04Recent studies noted clade Ib cases in neighboring African countries including Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda, consistent with regional spread from eastern DRC.
Interventions
- WHO, Africa CDC, and national health authorities continue **vaccination**, **surveillance**, **laboratory expansion**, and **cross-border coordination** for mpox response.
- CDC and WHO monitoring systems continue to track clade I and clade Ib spread, including travel-associated cases and community transmission in affected countries.
What Works
- Rapid case finding, isolation, and contact tracing reduce onward transmission, especially when paired with laboratory confirmation and coordinated cross-border surveillance.
- Vaccination and targeted outbreak response in affected regions are the main evidence-based public health tools being used to control spread.
How to Help
- Support organizations working on mpox surveillance, diagnostics, vaccination, and outbreak response in Africa.
- Volunteer with public health, humanitarian, or community organizations supporting risk communication and case finding.
- Advocate for funding for vaccine access, laboratory capacity, and cross-border outbreak coordination.
Make an Impact
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Raise Awareness
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Verified Organizations
Organizations Helping(19)
Africa CDC is involved in continental cholera coordination with UNICEF and WHO through the Continental Task Force for Cholera. Its role is to help align national responses, reduce preventable deaths, and support elimination efforts through coordinated surveillance, response planning, and outbreak control actions alongside partners.
WHO maintains global mpox surveillance, provides response guidance, supports diagnostics and vaccine access via the International Coordinating Group (ICG) for mpox vaccines, and evaluates rapid diagnostic tests. In the African Region, they support a continental response across all pillars including surveillance, diagnostics in most countries, and vaccine delivery to 16 countries for at-risk populations. They also focus on communication, community engagement, case detection, treatment, laboratory confirmation, transmission containment, health supplies, and health worker protection.
IDSA tackles the mpox crisis through expert analysis and advocacy, publishing detailed reports on the African epidemic including clade Ib dynamics, calling for urgent increases in vaccine and diagnostic access, recommending research into antiviral treatments and mutation risks, and urging global funding for surveillance, contact tracing, and community health worker deployment in epicenters like DRC, Malawi, and Sierra Leone.
CDC supports Myanmar through public health collaboration that strengthens outbreak detection, investigation, and response capacity. Its work includes field epidemiology training, surveillance improvements, laboratory capacity, and partnership with the Ministry of Health to better identify and control infectious disease outbreaks, including vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles.
