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WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads

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WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads
News

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WHO declares mpox outbreaks in Africa a global health emergency as a new form of the virus spreads

2024-08-15 02:20 Last Updated At:02:30

LONDON (AP) — The World Health Organization declared the mpox outbreaks in Congo and elsewhere in Africa a global emergency on Wednesday, with cases confirmed among children and adults in more than a dozen countries and a new form of the virus spreading. Few vaccine doses are available on the continent.

Earlier this week, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that the mpox outbreaks were a public health emergency, with more than 500 deaths, and called for international help to stop the virus’ spread.

“This is something that should concern us all ... The potential for further spread within Africa and beyond is very worrying,” said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The Africa CDC previously said mpox, also known as monkeypox, has been detected in 13 countries this year, and more than 96% of all cases and deaths are in Congo. Cases are up 160% and deaths are up 19% compared with the same period last year. So far, there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 people have died.

“We are now in a situation where (mpox) poses a risk to many more neighbors in and around central Africa,” said Salim Abdool Karim, a South African infectious diseases expert who chairs the Africa CDC emergency group. He said the new version of mpox spreading from Congo appears to have a death rate of about 3-4%.

In 2022, WHO declared mpox to be a global emergency after it spread to more than 70 countries that had not previously reported mpox, mostly affecting gay and bisexual men. In that outbreak, fewer than 1% of people died.

Michael Marks, a professor of medicine at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said declaring these latest mpox outbreaks in Africa an emergency is warranted if that might lead to more support to contain them.

“It’s a failure of the global community that things had to get this bad to release the resources needed,” he said.

Officials at the Africa CDC said nearly 70% of cases in Congo are in children younger than 15, who also accounted for 85% of deaths.

Jacques Alonda, an epidemiologist working in Congo with international charities, said he and other experts were particularly worried about the spread of mpox in camps for refugees in the country’s conflict-ridden east.

“The worst case I’ve seen is that of a six-week-old baby who was just two weeks old when he contracted mpox,” Alonda said, adding the baby has been in their care for a month. “He got infected because hospital overcrowding meant he and his mother were forced to share a room with someone else who had the virus, which was undiagnosed.”

Save the Children said Congo’s health system already had been “collapsing” under the strain of malnutrition, measles and cholera.

The U.N. health agency said mpox was recently identified for the first time in four East African countries: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda. All of those outbreaks are linked to the one in Congo. In Ivory Coast and South Africa, health authorities have reported outbreaks of a different and less dangerous version of mpox that spread worldwide in 2022.

Earlier this year, scientists reported the emergence of a new form of the deadlier form of mpox, which can kill up to 10% of people, in a Congolese mining town that they feared might spread more easily. Mpox mostly spreads via close contact with infected people, including through sex.

Unlike in previous mpox outbreaks, where lesions were mostly seen on the chest, hands and feet, the new form causes milder symptoms and lesions on the genitals. That makes it harder to spot, meaning people might also sicken others without knowing they’re infected.

Before the 2022 outbreak, the disease had mostly been seen in sporadic outbreaks in central and West Africa when people came into close contact with infected wild animals.

Western countries during the 2022 outbreak mostly shut down the spread of mpox with the help of vaccines and treatments, but very few of those have been available in Africa.

Marks of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine said that in the absence of mpox vaccines licensed in the West, officials could consider inoculating people against smallpox, a related disease. “We need a large supply of vaccine so that we can vaccinate populations most at risk,” he said, adding that would mean sex workers, children and adults living in outbreak regions.

Congo hasn’t received any of the mpox vaccines it has requested.

Congolese authorities said they have asked for 4 million doses, Cris Kacita Osako, coordinator of Congo’s Monkeypox Response Committee, told The Associated Press. Kacita Osako said those would mostly be used for children under 18.

“The United States and Japan are the two countries that positioned themselves to give vaccines to our country,” Kacita Osako said.

Dr. Dimie Ogoina, a Nigerian mpox expert who chaired WHO’s emergency committee, said there were still significant gaps in understanding how mpox is spreading in Africa. He called for stronger surveillance to track the outbreaks.

“We're working blindly when we're not able to test all suspected cases," Ogoina said.

Although WHO’s emergency declaration is meant to spur donor agencies and countries into action, the global response to previous declarations has been mixed.

Dr. Boghuma Titanji, an infectious diseases expert at Emory University, said the last WHO emergency declaration for mpox “did very little to move the needle” on getting things like diagnostic tests, medicines and vaccines to Africa.

“The world has a real opportunity here to act in a decisive manner and not repeat past mistakes, (but) that will take more than an (emergency) declaration,” Titanji said.

Associated Press writers Gerald Imray in Cape Town, South Africa, Christina Malkia in Kinshasa, Congo and Mark Banchereau in Dakar, Senegal contributed to this report.

The Associated Press Health and Science Department receives support from the Howard Hughes Medical Institute’s Science and Educational Media Group. The AP is solely responsible for all content.

FILE - This undated image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Md. (NIAID via AP, File)

FILE - This undated image provided by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases shows a colorized transmission electron micrograph of monkeypox particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory that was captured and color-enhanced at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick, Md. (NIAID via AP, File)

This photo supplied by MSF (Doctors Without Borders) dated May 31, 2023, shows health workers educating children on the symptoms of the mpox disease in Goma, Congo. (Augustin Mudiayi/Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières via AP)

This photo supplied by MSF (Doctors Without Borders) dated May 31, 2023, shows health workers educating children on the symptoms of the mpox disease in Goma, Congo. (Augustin Mudiayi/Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières via AP)

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SEP Report Ranks the Top 100 US Cleantech Innovation Hubs

2025-04-03 22:00 Last Updated At:22:10

BOULDER, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 3, 2025--

Saoradh Enterprise Partners (SEP), a Colorado-based venture capital (VC) and research firm, has released the 2024 US Cleantech Innovation Hubs Survey, the second edition of its comprehensive ranking and analysis of cleantech ecosystems across the US. SEP defines innovation hubs as ecosystems driven by research funding, technology development, and venture formation. The report evaluates the 100 leading cleantech hubs in the nation, identifying their strengths, weaknesses, and potential for impact.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20250403938883/en/

In 2025, the urgency for global climate action remains at the forefront, including in the US at the state and metropolitan levels. Investments in cleantech have surged, outpacing fossil fuel investments for the first time. According to PitchBook Data, Inc., global clean energy markets are projected to reach $1.3 trillion in 2025 and $2 trillion in 2030, marking a significant shift toward sustainable energy solutions. VC investments into companies innovating clean energy technologies support this shift, which equaled $17.9 billion in 2024 and $89.4 billion since 2020.

Despite this momentum, many promising cleantech hubs remain overlooked. SEP’s Survey highlighted a cleantech commercialization gap — the disconnect between regions receiving VC funds and those leading in research and development (R&D). While California, Massachusetts, and New York secured 45% of VC cleantech funding, they accounted for only 25% of university R&D cleantech spending. This discrepancy suggests that the nation’s cleantech research remains under-commercialized, slowing decarbonization efforts.

One major challenge contributing to this gap has been the lack of comprehensive datasets on cleantech innovation hubs to inform investors, policy makers, and other stakeholders. This scarcity results in investment decisions that lack an understanding of regional cleantech ecosystems and a rigorous, data-driven analysis necessary to assess technology availability, viability, and market deployment.

“At SEP, we aim to close this commercialization gap by using the Survey as a compass to find great technology and build the companies that commercialize it – and to share its findings with other investors, corporations, economic development agencies, and policymakers to drive optimal cleantech development in the US,” said Paul Nelson, Managing Partner of SEP.

The SEP Survey includes a robust index scoring system with 13 datasets grouped into three stages (research, technology, and venture) to rank cleantech hubs at the granular level of metropolitan statistical areas. The 35-page Survey Whitepaper report and accompanying online Hubs Data System provide access to underlying details. Examples of the Whitepaper’s content include:

Top 10 2024 Cleantech Innovation Hubs

Leaders across the US reviewed the Survey, provided their take on its benefits to cleantech development, and are using it to help solve critical issues such as global warming, including the American Energy Society, Colorado Cleantech, Pitchbook, Governor of Colorado, Research Triangle, Stanford University, Center for Houston’s Future, Energy Capital Ventures, and more.

“It comes as no surprise that the Bay Area continues to rank 1st for innovating and commercializing cleantech, as identified by SEP in the 2024 Cleantech Innovation Hubs Survey. Leveraging the existing ecosystem of large companies, startups, academia, non-profits, and government organizations that exist within these Innovation Hubs is critical to building resilient cleantech ecosystems and to decarbonizing industry.”—Naomi Bones, Managing Director of Stanford University Natural Gas Initiative and Co-Managing Director, Stanford Hydrogen Initiative (Bay Area hub #1)

“Colorado has always been a leader in clean energy technology, and we are proud to be among one of the top in the country. Our cleantech industry creates good-paying jobs that power our economy, while developing innovations that protect our air quality and our state for future generations. While top ten is a good place to be, we won’t rest until we’re #1.” —Colorado Governor Jared Polis (Colorado Cleanrange hub #5)

All quotes can be viewed on SEP’s website. Access to the executive summary, Whitepaper, and online data system here.

About SEP

Saoradh Enterprise Partners (SEP) is an early stage cleantech venture capital and transactional research firm. The firm embodies a new approach to drive commercialization of impactful technologies across all sectors that comprise the cleantech ecosystem.

SEP leverages its innovative market and technology research platform to identify the best cleantech and invest in early stage companies to commercialize opportunities in US innovation hubs The firm partners with innovators, entrepreneurs, and corporations in a balanced approach at the magical intersection of science (what’s possible), finance (what’s bankable), industry (what’s needed), and planet (what matters).

To learn more, visit www.saoradh.com.

Map highlighting the newly announced 2024 Cleantech Innovation Hubs across the United States.

Map highlighting the newly announced 2024 Cleantech Innovation Hubs across the United States.

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