AFRICA is grappling with growing public health threats amid strained resources and persistent gaps in preparedness, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said.
Professor Yap Boum, incident director for health emergencies at the Africa CDC, raised the alert during the agency’s weekly virtual press conference.
He raised the alarm when the CDC released data showing growing outbreaks of cholera, Mpox and Marburg virus across the continent. Boum noted that the Africa Health Sovereignty and Security Agenda provided a roadmap to strengthen preparedness, scale up local manufacturing and invest in digital and financial systems for long-term resilience.
“Progress requires a shared commitment, with Africa leading the way and partners aligned, to build a safer and more sovereign health future for the continent,” he said.
He said accelerating local production of medicines was crucial to reducing dependency and building a resilient healthcare ecosystem.
He also announced that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) had declared an end to its 16th Ebola outbreak centered in Kasai province and first reported on September 4.
He said Africa CDC joined Prime Minister Judith Suminwa Tuluka to mark the milestone and praised the DRC government, the country’s Ministry of Health and field teams for their coordinated response.
Boum said there were 132,442 suspected cases of Mpox and 40,218 confirmed cases resulting in 953 deaths. According to him, there were 301,561 suspected cases of cholera, 10,057 confirmed cases and 7,187 deaths.
“Measles affected 140,217 people, with 11,674 confirmed cases causing 1,243 deaths, while dengue recorded 52,155 suspected cases, 6,062 confirmed cases and 139 deaths. Lassa fever recorded 8,791 suspected cases, 1,023 confirmed cases and 192 deaths,” he said.
He said Ethiopia’s Ministry of Health and the country’s Institute of Public Health confirmed the Marburg virus outbreak in the city of Jinka on November 14.
“As of December 3, 13 cases had been confirmed with eight deaths, and 530 samples were tested in week 49 alone. Rapid response teams have been deployed with contact tracing, active case finding and surveillance at entry points. South Sudan has also activated its Emergency Operations Centre.”