Monkeypox Africa: As per the latest news on Monkeypox in Africa, the health officials say that there is an emergency and they are calling rich countries to urgently share the limited supply of vaccines so as to avoid the ever rising issues of equality as it happened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The disease has now started sickening more people in parts of west and central Africa for many decades in the past.
In spite of the efforts by the government and local bodies, the number of unvaccinated cases are pilling up.
It’s been happening due to the lack of weak surveillance and laboratory diagnosis. It means there will be more cases that are going unnoticed across the continent.
The latest figures say that countries in African region have over 1,800 suspected cases which include over 70 deaths. Out of these, only 109 have been confirmed by lab.
This is what he said, “This particular outbreak for us means an emergency,” said Ahmed Ogwell, the acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control. “We want to be able to address Monkeypox as an emergency now so that it does not cause more pain and suffering,” he said.
It was last week when WHO had stated that monkeypox outbreak was worrying. But they didn’t called it a global health emergency.
Due to this, the agency planned to reconsider its decision, especially if the outbreak continues to haunt people across more such borders.
The data (as per WHO) shows an increased sign of severity as it has started affecting vulnerable groups of people like children and pregnant women.
Monkeypox Africa: Limited Supply of Vaccines to Fight Monkeypox
If you look at the global figures, more than 5,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported so far in 51 countries. As per CDC, the majority of these cases are present in Europe. But no deaths beyond African region have been reported so far.
WHO said there are regions within Africa like Morocco, Ghana and South Africa where monkeypox spread hasn’t previously been seen.
And so, more than 90% of such cases are reported from regions like Nigeria and Congo. This is what stated by WHO’s Africa director, Dr Moeti Matshidiso.
She stated that limited supply of monkeypox vaccines are causing a pathetic situation to handle. It’s known that WHO is currently in talks with countries and their manufacturers to check if they might be shared.
The vaccines given in monkeypox are used to treat smallpox which is a related condition. These vaccines are authorized to be used for monkeypox as well.
Also Read: Monkeypox DNA Sequencing Hints Virus Circulating Since 2017: Report
Source: Jamaica-gleaner.com
