20th August 2024
On 14 August 2024 the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) determined that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR). The declaration is based on the advice of an IHR Emergency Committee of independent experts. This PHEIC determination is the second in two years relating to mpox.
The term PHEIC is defined in the IHR as an extraordinary event which is determined to constitute a public health risk to other States through the international spread of disease and to potentially require a coordinated international response.
In his opening remarks at the IHR Emergency Committee meeting regarding the upsurge of mpox 2024, the WHO Director-General highlighted as especially concerning the emergence, in 2023, and rapid spread of a new virus strain, clade 1b, in DRC. Moreover, in the past month, over 100 laboratory-confirmed cases of clade 1b have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. Outbreaks of other clades of mpox have also occurred in different countries, with different modes of transmission and different risks.
The WHO Director-General will soon issue temporary recommendations to countries.
There are two vaccines currently in use for mpox. They are recommended by WHO's Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization, and are also approved by WHO-listed national regulatory authorities, as well as by individual countries including Nigeria and the DRC. Moreover, the WHO recently launched a process for Emergency Use Listing for mpox vaccines with the objective of accelerating vaccine access for lower-income countries which have not yet issued their own national regulatory approval.
The World Customs Organization (WCO) closely monitors the recent developments regarding the current mpox outbreak with a view to ensuring that WCO Members with public health and safety responsibilities are properly informed about the situation and are involved in national response strategies.
At the level of borders, many WCO Members play an important role in national response strategies to mitigate epidemic-related public health and safety risks. In this context, it is of utmost importance that Customs administrations with health and safety responsibilities are adequately integrated as part of the preparedness and response mechanisms.
Furthermore, Customs have a key role to play in facilitating and securing the cross-border movement of situationally critical medicines and vaccines and Members should duly implement the measures outlined in the December 2020 Resolution of the Council in that regard.
The WCO will continue monitoring the current mpox outbreak and any associated travel- and trade-related developments.