Media Wire Express Correspondent and editor
Congolese authorities began vaccinations against mpox on Saturday, nearly two months after the World Health Organization declared the outbreak a global emergency.
The disease has spread from Congo to several African countries and beyond.
The rollout of 265,000 doses, donated by the European Union and the U.S., started in Goma, a city in North Kivu province. Hospitals and health workers in the area have been overwhelmed as they try to manage a new and potentially more infectious strain of mpox.
Congo has reported around 30,000 suspected cases and 859 deaths, accounting for over 80% of all mpox cases and 99% of deaths in Africa this year. Every one of the country’s 26 provinces has seen mpox cases.
While most infections and fatalities in Congo involve children under 15, the current vaccination effort is focused on adults. Health Minister Roger Kamba stated that the doses will be given to at-risk populations and frontline workers.
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“Strategies have been put in place by the services in order to vaccinate all targeted personnel,” Muboyayi ChikayaI, the minister’s chief of staff, said as he kicked off the vaccination.
According to Kamba, Japan is expected to send at least 3 million doses of the vaccine approved for children in the coming days.
Mpox, or monkeypox, had been quietly spreading in Africa for years before the global outbreak in 2022. During that outbreak, wealthy countries quickly rolled out vaccines from their stockpiles, while African nations received only a handful of doses despite urgent requests for help.
Dr. Dimie Ogoina, chair of the WHO’s mpox emergency committee, recently shared that the current situation in Africa is different from the 2022 outbreak, which primarily affected gay and bisexual men. Now, mpox is spreading through sexual transmission as well as close contact among children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable groups.
This year, more than 34,000 suspected cases of mpox and 866 related deaths have been reported across 16 African countries, marking a staggering 200% increase compared to the same time last year, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
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However, accessing vaccines continues to be a significant hurdle. Despite being a continent of 1.4 billion people, Africa has only secured a commitment for 5.9 million doses of mpox vaccines, which are expected to arrive between October and December. Dr. Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa CDC, emphasized that Congo is a priority in this effort.
During a vaccination event in Goma, Dr. Jean Bruno Ngenze, the WHO representative for the province, expressed concerns that North Kivu is at risk of a major outbreak due to the high levels of close contact in camps for displaced people, amid one of the world’s largest humanitarian crises caused by ongoing armed violence.
The announcement of the vaccination program has brought relief to many in Congo, particularly in hospitals that have been struggling to cope with the outbreak. Dr. Musole Mulambamunva Robert, medical director of Kavumu Hospital, one of the mpox treatment centers in eastern Congo, stated, “If everyone could be vaccinated, it would be even better to stop the spread of the disease.”
Eastern Congo has faced years of conflict, with over 100 armed groups competing for control in this mineral-rich region near Rwanda’s border. Some groups have been accused of committing mass killings.
Source:AP
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