Mpox Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response

30May 2025 by Melissa Slogan

Welcome to the fifteenth issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.”

In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond.

Highlights:

Clade II mpox continues to spread in West Africa challenging the response to adapt to different transmission dynamics: Sierra Leone continues to report a significant growth in the number of new cases over the last three weeks. In the last week, the number of newly notified cases increased 18% (723 vs. 611) and the number of newly confirmed cases increased 25% (658 vs. 526). In the last week, Sierra Leone accounted for 61% of confirmed cases across the continent. Sierra Leone has received a total of 80,000 doses of vaccine, but less than 10,000 doses are still available to respond to the outbreak. On May 16th, Togo declared an outbreak of clade II mpox and has since confirmed three cases of mpox. Togo has received no shipments of mpox vaccines. None of the cases report recent travel history to a country reporting active transmission, though one case reports travel history to Benin. It will be critical in the coming weeks to increase laboratory capacity for testing and sequencing, and to increase contact tracing efforts to limit further spread. In addition, cholera continues to pose a significant public health risk, with more than 127,000 cases and more than 2,500 deaths reported in 2025 across 20 African member states.

Latest updates at a glance:

The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) has granted emergency use authorization to the Alinity m MPX assay. SAHPRA employed a reliance pathway to approve the product after the Alinity m MPX assay was granted WHO prequalification.

Ghana reported 4 new confirmed cases of mpox after 8 weeks of reporting no new confirmed cases.

Ethiopia has confirmed the country’s first case of mpox in a 21-day-old infant. The infant’s parents have since tested positive and all are in isolation for treatment.

On May 23rd, North Macedonia reported the first confirmed cases of mpox in two adult males. Neither patient reports any travel abroad and health authorities are implementing measures to prevent further spread.

Emerging outbreaks:

Cholera: There is an active cholera outbreak in 20-member states and cumulatively in 2025 there have been 127,409 cases and more than 2,500 deaths reported. Four member states (Angola, DRC, Sudan, and South Sudan) contributed to 83% of all cases and 92% of all deaths in 2025. Other public health outbreaks in the continent include measles, dengue and lassa fever.