The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has raised concerns over the ongoing mpox outbreak in Africa, stating on Thursday that the situation remains uncontrolled, with cases continuing to rise in several countries.
This follows the World Health Organization’s declaration of the recent mpox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern, after the emergence of a new variant.
According to the Africa CDC, the continent has seen a 177% spike in mpox cases, with deaths rising by 38.5% compared to the same period last year, highlighting the growing severity of the outbreak.
“We can say today that mpox is not under control in Africa. We still have this increase of cases that is worrying for all of us,” Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, told a weekly briefing on the outbreak.
In one week, 2,912 new cases were reported compared with the previous week including a new country, Morrocco, where a case was reported, confirming the spread of the disease in all four regions of the continent.
So far, 15 of the 55 member states of the African Union have reported cases, Africa CDC said.
“We still have people dying from mpox in Africa. In one week, we lost 14 people,” Kaseya added.
He added in some countries, such as Cameroon and the Democratic Republic of Congo, two strains of the disease were in circulation, but because surveillance and testing systems were not robust enough, it was impossible to tell if that was the case in other countries.
Kaseya said Rwanda had started its vaccination campaign, while the Democratic Republic of Congo, the epicenter of the outbreak, is set to start vaccination in early October.
SOURCE: https://dew360.net
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