Victor EzejaThe Africa Centre for Disease Control and prevention (CDC), has announced plans to declare Mpox (formerly Monkey Pox), a public health emergency of concern in the continent.
Director-General of the Africa-CDC, Dr. Jean Kaseya, made this known during a virtual media briefing on Thursday, monitored by Prime Business Africa.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelThis comes as the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and some other African countries are facing severe threat of Mpox outbreak.
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, 14,000 cases and 511 deaths have been recorded so far this year.
The virus has reportedly spread to four neighbouring countries to DRC – Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi, and Kenya.
The WHO DG hinted on plans to convene an emergency committee under the International Health Regulations (IHR) to decide whether the outbreak has become a public health emergency of International Concern.
The Africa-CDC DG said it will be declared a public health emergency of concern in the continent next week after consultations with stakeholders.
Dr Kaseya said the continued rise in cases and spread of the disease across borders has spurred him to begin engaging with African Union member states to prevent it from becoming “another pandemic.”
“We are committed to mobilising resources and providing technical assistance to affected countries to control the outbreak,” Kaseya said.
What Is Mpox?
Mpox, is a viral illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a specie of the genus Orthopoxvirus.
Mode of Transmission and Symptoms
According to the WHO, Mpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with infected person, contaminated materials, or with animals.
It has the following common symptoms: skin rash or mucosal lesions, which can last two to four weeks, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen lymph nodes.
WHO said since 2005, thousands of suspected cases are reported in the DRC every year.
The Africa-CDC DG said during the briefing that a total of 887 new confirmed and suspected cases of Mpox have been reported on the continent this past week.
Expressing concerns about the spread of the disease to other countries, Kaseya said: “This new incident demonstrates the need for a collective and collaborative approach in curbing the spread of the disease.”
Vaccination To Contain Spread
Speaking on containment measure, the Africa-CDC DG said the Centre targets 10 million doses of Mpox vaccines to be distributed to affected countries according to their vaccination plans.
He, however expressed worry about limited availability of vaccines and called for efforts towards local manufacturing of vaccines.
Kaseya highlighted the importance of declaring Mpox a public health emergency in Africa. According to him, “When we declare Mpox a public health emergency, we are increasing opportunity for mobilization of resources to contain the spread and also increase surveillance and public communication.”
He added that a declaration of the disease as a public health emergency will facilitate scaling up production of vaccines.
Also speaking at the briefing, Dr Ngashi Ngongo, Chief of Staff and Head of Executive Office Africa CDC, said contact tracing as a containment measure has not been optimal, leading to further spread in DRC and across borders. He also stated that DRC has not gotten Mpox vaccines but has made orders for supply.
Kaseya said CDC is in contact with health ministers in the continent, discussing the best communication strategy to adopt to contain the spread, drawing lessons from what happen during COVID-19 pandemic
He also emphasised the need for private sector collaboration in fighting the disease.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
