Sierra Leone has emerged as the epicenter of Africa’s mpox outbreak this week, recording 384 confirmed cases—representing 50.7% of all reported cases on the continent.
The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) revealed that the country has experienced a 63% surge in confirmed cases within just one week.
Despite declaring mpox a public health emergency in January, Sierra Leone continues to face critical challenges, including limited bed space with only 60 available in treatment centers for over 800 active cases, inadequate contact tracing, and underfunded laboratory capacity.
Officials say the mpox response is hindered by a severe funding gap, which has been further strained by proposed U.S. budget cuts affecting disease control support in Africa.
In contrast, high-burden countries such as Uganda and Burundi are seeing steady declines in mpox cases, and numbers in the Democratic Republic of Congo are beginning to stabilize.
Mpox, a viral disease spread through close contact, typically causes flu-like symptoms and lesions.
Though usually mild, it can be fatal. The World Health Organization still classifies it as a public health emergency due to its rising case numbers and continued geographic spread.
