The World Health Organisation (WHO) has said more than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported in the Democratic Republic of Congo this year, with 629 deaths.
Director-General of the WHO, Tedros Ghebreyesus, disclosed this during an online news conference on Friday, August 30, 2024.
He said that the cases included more than 5000 cases and 31 deaths from the eastern provinces of North and South Kivu, where the new clade 1b strain had been spreading.
According to him, “The number of reported cases of clade 1b has been rising rapidly for several weeks. Fortunately, relatively few deaths have been reported in recent weeks.’’
He says in addition, 258 cases of clade 1b have been confirmed in Burundi, four in Rwanda, four in Uganda, one in Kenya and one each in Sweden and Thailand.
Ghebreyesus said he also had the opportunity to meet with the UN Country Team, where they discussed coordination of the mpox response among UN agencies, under the government’s leadership.
He said that they discussed the critical importance of clear communication with people at risk of mpox and strong engagement with communities and local partners.
Ghebreyesus further added that the two main buyers of vaccines for low-income countries, Gavi and UNICEF, require WHO emergency use listing to buy vaccines for use in countries that have not issued their own national regulatory approval.
