The Minister of Health, Hygiene and Prevention, Roger Kamba, gave an alarming assessment of the Mpox epidemic which is raging in the Democratic Republic of Congo, calling on the population to respect barrier gestures to limit the spread of the virus.
“We are at 31,000 cases today with just over 988 deaths, and have been since the start of 2024. We have cases reported in almost every province, with some more affected than others. There are two types of virus circulating: the type 1 virus (Clade 1 A), which we have always known, which evolves in peri-forest areas, particularly in the North, and then there is this mutation with the 1B virus which evolves more in the Eastern zone. The latter, which is transmitted more sexually, has a much faster capacity to spread due to very discreet symptoms at first, which means that people do not realize it before contaminating others. Another very important fact is that it is children who are most affected, often contaminated by adults, and unfortunately, they are the ones who die the most. We see that almost 70% of deaths concern children under 5 years old,” said Roger Kamba.
And to add:
“This puts enormous pressure on our health system, as it is essential to save our children as quickly as possible. Beyond the barrier gestures that we know – washing our hands regularly, disinfecting ourselves with hydroalcoholic products, avoiding any close contact with sick people, especially sharing objects such as clothes, sheets – there is a active protection which is vaccination, in order to limit the spread of the virus,” he concluded.
The Minister of Health also announced that the Mpox vaccination campaign will begin this Saturday, October 5 in the eastern provinces, particularly in North Kivu and South Kivu, with adults at the front of the line for vaccination.
Currently, all 26 provinces of the DRC are affected by Mpox, with a particularly high case fatality rate in the provinces of Équateur, Sud-Kivu, Sud-Ubangi, Sankuru, Tshuapa, Mongala and of the Tshopo.
Last August, the Congolese government announced the release of an emergency fund, estimated between 6 and 10 million US dollars, to support the immediate fight against the Mpox epidemic.
As a reminder, the African Union Health Agency (CDC Africa) has officially declared the outbreak of monkeypox (Mpox) a “public health emergency” due to the rapid increase in cases in Africa.
Grace Guka
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