CORRECTS - African countries, partners pledge $800M for Africa’s mpox response

CORRECTS FIGURES, HEADLINE, LEDE; EDITS THROUGHOUT

By James Tasamba

KIGALI, Rwanda (AA) - African countries and partners have pledged more than $800 million towards the continent’s mpox response amid surging infection, the director-general of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) announced Thursday.

Jean Kaseya said $314 million was pledged to a new mpox fund created at a meeting of African heads of state earlier this week, of which $129 million is from the pandemic fund to support 10 countries impacted by mpox, while about $145 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI).

“Today we have around $814 million,” he said.

Money from the pandemic fund will support 10 countries impacted by mpox: the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Kenya, Sudan, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Somalia, and South Sudan.

“Our team is working with the pandemic fund team on the way to allocate these resources in the 10 countries approved for support,” Kaseya said at a virtual news conference.

The funding, created at a meeting of African heads of state earlier this week, is expected to bolster country and regional capacity in critical areas, including disease surveillance, diagnostics, laboratory networks and health workforce while addressing the immediate challenges posed by mpox.

The continental preparedness and response plan for Africa has a budget of about $600 million.

Kaseya said the US has also committed to provide $500 million to support the continental response plan and 1 million vaccine doses.

He said Africa has secured 4.4 million vaccine doses against 10 million doses needed to control the disease spread.

A total of 2,910 new cases of mpox, mostly in central and eastern Africa, were recorded last week and 16 new deaths, according to the latest data from Africa CDC.

More than 32,000 confirmed cases in 2024 have been recorded on the continent with 840 deaths.

Compared to the same period last year, Kaseya said there has been more than a 194% increase in cases in 15 African nations.

Mpox cases are steadily increasing across all affected countries, Kaseya said, citing contact tracing and low testing capacity among the challenges.

The testing rate on the continent stands at 49.5%, whereby many cases cannot be confirmed.

Kaseya said this week Africa CDC would deliver available vaccines from the EU to some affected countries such as Rwanda, the Central African Republic, South Africa, Burundi and Cameroon.

Congo, the most affected country in the region, will begin vaccinations in the first week of October.

“Our objective is to stop this outbreak in the next six months and we need full support from member states and our partners,” he said.