Goma, Congo — Congolese authorities said on Saturday, nearly two months after an outbreak of the disease that spread from Congo to several African countries and other countries was declared a global emergency by the World Health Organization. has started vaccination against mpox.
The 265,000 doses of vaccines donated to Congo by the European Union and the United States were rolled out in the eastern city of Goma in North Kivu province, where hospitals and health workers are overburdened and new It is struggling to contain the possibly more contagious mpox strain.
In Congo, approximately 30,000 suspected chickenpox cases and 859 deaths have been reported in Africa this year, accounting for more than 80% of all cases and 99% of deaths. All 26 states in Central Africa have recorded mpox cases.
Most of the mpox infections and deaths recorded in Congo are in children under 15, but the doses being administered are only aimed at adults, and those at risk and front-line workers. will be administered, Health Minister Roger Kamba said this week.
“Strategies are being put in place by the authorities to vaccinate all eligible persons,” Chief of Staff to the Minister Mboyai Chikaya said as vaccinations began.
Kamba said at least three million doses of vaccines approved for use in children are expected to be delivered by Japan in the coming days.
MPOX, also known as monkeypox, spread largely undetected in Africa for years until the disease sparked a global pandemic in 2022. While rich countries responded quickly with stockpiled vaccines, Africa received only a few doses despite government requests.
But unlike the 2022 pandemic, which was overwhelmingly concentrated in gay and bisexual men, mpox in Africa is now being transmitted sexually and in children, pregnant women, and other vulnerable populations. It is spread through close contact between people, Dr. Dimmy Ogoyina said. The head of WHO’s mpox emergency committee told reporters recently.
More than 34,000 suspected cases of the virus and 866 deaths have been recorded in 16 African countries this year. This is a 200% increase compared to the same period last year, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
However, access to vaccines remains a challenge.
Africa CDC Director Dr. Jean Kaseya told reporters last week that the continent of 1.4 billion people had secured only 5.9 million doses of the mpox vaccine, which are expected to be available between October and December. spoke. Congo remains a priority, he said.
At a vaccination drive in Goma, WHO representative Dr. Jean Bruno Kibunda said North Kivu province, one of the world’s largest humanitarian regions, was at risk of an outbreak due to “orgies observed in camps” of displaced people. warned that they were in danger. A crisis caused by armed violence unfolds there.
News of the vaccination program has brought relief to many in Congo, especially hospitals that have been struggling to manage the outbreak.
“If everyone can be vaccinated, it will be even better to stop the spread of the disease,” said Dr. Msole Mlambamumba Robert, medical director of Kavumu Hospital, one of the mpox treatment centers in eastern Congo. .
Eastern Congo has been plagued by conflict for years, with more than 100 armed groups fighting for a foothold in the mineral-rich region near the border with Rwanda. Some have been accused of carrying out mass murders.
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Associated Press writers Jean-Yves Kamare in Kinshasa, Republic of the Congo, and Chinedu Asadu in Abuja, Nigeria, contributed to this report.
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