Africa is currently experiencing a concerning rise in mpox cases, with nearly 4,000 new cases reported in the past week alone. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention revealed that there have been a total of 22,863 cases and 622 deaths due to mpox on the continent. The situation is particularly critical in Congo, which is the epicenter of the global health emergency.
Despite promises of 380,000 doses of mpox vaccines from Western partners like the European Union and the United States, only a fraction of the needed doses have arrived in Africa. The delayed arrival of vaccines in Congo has exacerbated the crisis, with the first batch now expected to reach the country on September 1.
The new mpox variant detected in Congo has led to significant community-level transmission in neighboring countries like Burundi, where nearly 800 cases have been recorded in the last month. The urgency of the situation has prompted the U.S. to donate 10,000 doses of mpox vaccines to Nigeria, the first known donation to Africa during the current outbreaks.
Efforts are underway to secure additional doses, with Congo negotiating for 2 million doses from Japan that are particularly effective in protecting children. The Africa CDC is working on a unified response plan for the outbreaks, which will be presented to African heads of state for consideration in September.
While African countries are promoting health measures and hygiene practices to curb the spread of the virus, challenges persist in enforcing these measures in Congo, where a humanitarian crisis has left millions in overcrowded displaced camps. Humanitarian actors are struggling to contain the outbreak due to limited resources, especially impacting vulnerable children.
