Sierra Leone Fights Mpox
May 18, 2025
Sierra Leone’s mpox outbreak has reached alarming levels, accounting for half of Africa’s confirmed cases in early May. With only 60 isolation beds and over 1,000 active patients, the country is relying heavily on home-based care, where compliance is low. Despite good testing rates, weak contact tracing and passive surveillance are hampering control efforts. Though nearly 24,000 people have been vaccinated, vaccine supply is still inadequate. The crisis highlights the urgent need for expanded vaccine access, improved surveillance, and stronger international support. Africa CDC warns that without immediate action, the outbreak risks spreading further across West Africa.
Sierra Leone has emerged as the new epicenter of the mpox outbreak in Africa, accounting for over 50% of the continent’s confirmed cases in early May, with more than 200 new infections reported in a single week. The rapid escalation has pushed the country onto the Africa CDC’s Incident Management Support Team list of the most affected nations and underscores the urgent need for a coordinated response.
Despite some declines in other hotspot countries like the DRC, Burundi, and Uganda, Sierra Leone is seeing a 71% week-over-week rise in cases. Most patients are young adult men, and 7% are people living with HIV, a group particularly vulnerable to severe mpox disease.
The country faces immense operational challenges. With only 60 mpox isolation beds nationwide, more than 800 patients are currently under home-based care, a method hindered by low compliance. Surveillance is largely passive, with fewer than one in six confirmed cases yielding contact tracing data. Genomic sequencing capacity is also alarmingly low. These gaps in the health system are allowing the virus to spread unchecked.
To date, nearly 24,000 people have been vaccinated, with healthcare workers prioritized. But with only 61,000 doses available for a population of 8 million, vaccine scarcity remains a major barrier. Africa CDC, alongside Gavi and UNICEF, is supporting vaccination efforts but emphasizes the urgent need for increased global support—both in the form of emergency vaccine supplies and long-term investment in local manufacturing and stockpiling.
The trajectory of the outbreak in Sierra Leone offers a stark warning: without swift intervention, the virus could spill over into neighboring West African nations. Strengthening surveillance, expanding contact tracing, and ensuring equitable vaccine access must be top priorities to contain the spread and protect vulnerable communities across the region.