Freetown – The number of cases of mpox registered in Sierra Leone since the beginning of the year has hit 2,045, with 11 fatalities, according to a new report by the country’s health ministry.
Authorities unveiled the latest figures late Monday with 165 new cases reported on Sunday alone. At the start of May, health authorities had reported nine deaths and 1,140 cases in the west African country.
The report was published as Sierra Leone’s health minister on Tuesday sought from the Indian High Commissioner 100,000 doses of mpox vaccines after cases surged.
“We have a state problem on our hands,” Health Minister Austin Demby told parliament, while noting his country had proved to be resilient in the face of Ebola, then Covid and now mpox.
He said he was sure that “this too we will handle” as the nation faces its latest health challenge.
In response to the rising caseload the government in February opened four treatment centres in the capital Freetown.
Other African states have seen rising cases with thousands of cases notably afflicting Congo, Rwanda, Tanzania, Burundi and Kenya.
Demby said there had been a gradual rise in cases since January, a month which saw just one or two cases daily, rising to 50 cases in March and April before a May spike, mainly in the west of the country in both urban and rural areas.
#SierraLeone is presently witnessing a #MPox outbreak recording an average of 120 new cases per day since 25 April 2025. #MPox was declared a national public health emergency in the country in January 2025. pic.twitter.com/lRCrr3nIPL
— MSF Western & Central Africa (@MSF_WestAfrica) May 7, 2025
Mpox is caused by a virus from the same family as smallpox, manifesting itself in a high fever and skin lesions.
First identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, the disease had generally been confined to a dozen African countries before spreading more widely from 2022.
The WHO declared its highest level of alert in 2024.
🚨 BREAKING: WHO DECLARES MPOX A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY AGAIN
The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years.
The viral outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo has spread to nearby countries.
Mpox,… pic.twitter.com/NvpzZpsrLe
— JAKE (@JakeGagain) August 14, 2024
An open letter to Dr. Austin Demby Minister of Health & Sanitation republic of Sierra Leone on Mpox and the danger it poses to our society plus suggested solutions to combating same👇🏾 pic.twitter.com/3h9YLmr8I5
— Minkailu Koroma (@MinkailuKoroma2) May 13, 2025
A decade ago, Sierra Leone was one of the countries worst affected by an Ebola epidemic, which between 2014 and 2016 killed about 4,000 people, including nearly seven per cent of health professionals.
Follow African Insider on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram
Picture: X/@MarioNawfal
For more African news, visit Africaninsider.com
Source: AFP
