The mpox outbreak in several African nations has slowed and countries have built up their responses to combat the virus, meaning the situation no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern, the head of the World Health Organization said Friday.

“This decision is based on sustained declines in cases and deaths in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in other affected countries, including Burundi, Sierra Leone, and Uganda,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said at a press briefing.

The WHO had declared the outbreak a PHEIC (pronounced “fake”) in August 2024, citing increasing transmission rates, fears of international spread, and the emergence of a new strain, or clade, of the virus.

But this week, a panel of experts convened to advise Tedro

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