By Michael Gwarisa
Zimbabwe is among the few African countries that have not recorded any new Mpox cases in the past three months, a top official at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has said.
In October 2024, Zimbabwe reported its first cases of Mpox, two months after the Africa CDC declared Mpox a public health emergency of continental concern. However, recent data indicates that Zimbabwe has not recorded any confirmed cases during the past 90 days.
Eight countries are now in the control phase, four of which have gone more than 90 days without a confirmed case: South Africa, Gabon, Morocco, and Zimbabwe,” said Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Africa CDC Director General, during his Weekly Press Briefing on Multi-Country Outbreaks in Africa.
The Mpox variant reported in Zimbabwe in October 2024 was identified as Clade 1b, which was also detected in neighboring countries, including Zambia, Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania.
Dr. Kaseya added, “One new Member State, Sierra Leone, reported its first Mpox outbreak on January 10, 2025. A second case was confirmed. Currently, 13 countries are assessed as active: Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi, Central African Republic (CAR), Nigeria, Liberia, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Republic of Congo, Guinea, Zambia, and Sierra Leone.”
Meanwhile, Chinese health authorities have reported an outbreak of Clade 1b, with the index case linked to travel history to Africa on January 9, 2025.
To date, a total of 77,888 Mpox cases have been notified in Africa, with 16,767 confirmed. The overall case fatality rate (CFR) among all notified cases is 1.8%, with 1,321 deaths reported. Among confirmed cases, 66 deaths have been recorded, reflecting a CFR of 0.4%. A total of 21 African Union member states have been affected, with the Central Africa region accounting for 85% of all confirmed cases and 99.2% of all deaths reported.
Mpox, previously referred to as monkeypox, has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades, primarily affecting regions in Central and West Africa. However, the 2022 global outbreak highlighted its ability to spread beyond endemic areas. The African continent experienced a surge in cases between 2022 and 2024, prompting the Africa CDC to declare it a public health emergency in August 2024.
