Africa Ends Mpox Emergency After 60% Drop in Cases

Africa just proved that coordinated action can turn around even the most daunting public health crisis in record time.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention officially ended the continent's mpox emergency on Friday after suspected cases fell 40% and confirmed cases dropped 60% between early and late 2025. The decision came nine months after Africa CDC made history by declaring its first continental health emergency in August 2024.

The numbers from 2024 were staggering. More than 80,000 suspected cases and 1,340 deaths swept across the continent, five times more cases and double the deaths compared to 2023. The Democratic Republic of the Congo faced the worst impact, accounting for 96% of all cases and 97% of deaths.

For decades, mpox outbreaks in Africa received little international attention despite carrying most of the global disease burden. African countries had almost no access to vaccines, diagnostic tools, and treatments that were readily available elsewhere.

Everything changed when African leaders convened an emergency meeting in Kinshasa in April 2024. They committed to fighting mpox together using a unified approach: one team, one plan, one budget.

The results speak for themselves. The response mobilized over $1 billion in funding and deployed more than five million vaccine doses across 16 countries. Laboratory capacity expanded tenfold through digital surveillance systems and community health workers on the ground. The death rate among suspected cases plummeted from 2.6% to just 0.6%.

More than 2,000 African and global scientists collaborated on research, while communities, health workers, and political leaders worked in lockstep with the World Health Organization.

The Ripple Effect

This victory extends far beyond mpox. Africa CDC plans to apply these same strategies to fight cholera, diphtheria, measles, and polio across the continent.

The agency will launch a Mpox Transition Roadmap to maintain surveillance, continue vaccinations, and build local vaccine manufacturing capacity. This shift represents Africa moving from emergency response to long-term prevention, from dependency on outside help to health sovereignty.

Mpox spreads through close physical contact with infected people or animals, contaminated materials, or skin lesions. Symptoms include fever, headache, and muscle aches, and the disease remains endemic in parts of Central and West Africa.

Director General Jean Kaseya emphasized that lifting the emergency doesn't mean mpox has disappeared, but it does prove that Africa can manage complex health challenges when resources, political will, and international partnerships align.

The continent just showed the world what's possible when people work together toward a common goal.