Africa’s struggle to bring a year old mpox outbreak under control is being slowed by a lack of funding and a shortage of vaccines, the World Health Organization (WHO) cautioned on Thursday.
Since the disease was declared a global health emergency in August 2024, 28 African nations have reported about 174,000 suspected cases and nearly 50,000 confirmed infections, resulting in roughly 240 deaths.
UN health agency stated that problems such as increasing health crises, stigma depriving people from seeking treatment, and limited access to healthcare are also making efforts to provide solution harder.
So far, just three million vaccine doses have reached the continent, less than half of what was planned. Of these, 951,000 doses have been administered, with around 900,000 people receiving at least one shot, WHO’s regional office reported.
Even so, there are encouraging signs. Confirmed weekly cases have dropped by more than one third in the past six weeks, and nations including Cote d’Ivoire, Angola, Gabon, Mauritius, and Zimbabwe have gone weeks without recording new infections.
