Sierra Leone declares Mpox public health emergency

mpox hands

The hands of a patient recovering from mpox. 

Photo credit: Reuters

Sierra Leone declared a public health emergency on Monday after two cases of Mpox were confirmed in the country.

The country’s Minister of Health, Dr Austin Dembi made the declaration on the day the second case was confirmed by the National Public Health Agency (NPHA), three days after the first case.

The victims have been identified as a 27-year old man from a village just outside the capital, Freetown, and a 21-year old male who resides in the capital city.

The men have been isolated in the infectious diseases ward at the country’s main referral hospital, Connaught in Freetown, where they are receiving treatment, said Prof Fode Sahr, Executive Director of the NPHA.

Sierra Leone is the latest country in the Mano River region to fall victim to the viral epidemic, after neighbours Liberia, Côte d'Ivoire and Guinea.

Liberia has recorded the highest number of cases among them – 19 laboratory confirmed cases, as of December 8, according to data from the National Public Health Institute of Liberia.

The outbreak in Sierra Leone also comes five months after the African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared Mpox a public health emergency of continental concern, following an escalation of cases of the virus across the continent, with the Democratic Republic of Congo at the epicentre of the epidemic, which began in 2022 before subsiding and reemerging in 2023.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has also since declared the disease a public health emergency of international concern.

According to the latest Africa CDC Joint Continental Situation Report on the Mpox Epidemic (September 23 - November 3, 2024), 19 countries have reported cases, with a total of 49,933 suspected cases. Of these there were 11, 873 laboratory confirmed cases.

Over 70 percent of cases occurred in the DRC alone, with Burundi and Uganda also reporting high numbers of cases, according to the Africa CDC data. It also shows that more than 1,000 Mpox-related deaths have been recorded in the affected countries.

While upbeat about the country’s state of preparedness for response, given its experience in dealing with previous emergencies like Ebola and Covid-19, Sierra Leonean authorities are warning against complacency.

Dr Dembi, the Minister for Health, warned that the number of cases is likely to increase before the epidemic is brought under control, noting that the fact that two cases have been recorded indicates that something is happening in the communities that needs to be unearthed to prevent further spread of the virus.

According to the ministry, both victims have had no known recent contact with animals or symptomatic individuals.

And only one had travelled recently to Lungi in the northern Port Loko District.

“The declaration demonstrates government’s commitment to deal with the situation by mobilising resources and prevent further spread,” the minister stressed.

Meanwhile, the NPHA has announced a number of measures in response to the situation, including the launch of a nationwide public awareness campaign, ensuring increased border surveillance to monitor and prevent the influx of new cases from neighbouring countries, and expanding testing capacity.

The authorities will also strengthen infection prevention and control protocols in all health facilities, the agency said.