Since January last year, nearly 21,500 cases of monkeypox and 591 deaths have been reported in 13 African countries.

Nearly 21,500 cases of MCV and 591 deaths due to the disease – formerly known as monkeypox – has been reported in 13 African countries since January 1, the African Union (AU) health agency said on Friday.

During that period 21,466 cases have been identified. (3,350 confirmed and 18,116 suspected) in Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Republic of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of Congo, Gabon, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, said Jean Kaseyya, director general of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

In a letter addressed to health ministers across the African continent, Kasey noted that “591 deaths from MPOCs” They have been recorded since the beginning of 2024, with a mortality rate of 2.9%.

“At the time of writing, Gabon has confirmed its first case, and Sierra Leone and Malawi are currently investigating their suspected cases,” the Congolese doctor said.

In the letter, Casey warned of several “problems” in the fight against the disease, such as “low level of internal resources “member states” of the AU or the fact that “only three African countries have already approved the use of Mpox vaccines (Nigeria, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo).”

“It is vital that other countries approve the introduction of vaccines.“, the doctor stressed, warning that “tensions caused by rising demand for vaccines from Western countries and monopoly in vaccine production put Africa at a disadvantage when it comes to obtaining vaccines, given the limited market demand from African leaders.”

In his opinion, There is a “serious risk that Africa will be left out of vaccine distribution.”“unless African leaders “stand united and raise their voices in the fight against this disease.”

On the 13th, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) declared mpox a “continental public health emergency.”

A day later, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued an international alert over MPOX, an infectious disease that can cause swollen glands and painful or itchy skin rashes, including pimples and blisters.

WHO health alert status linked to rapid spread and high mortality of the new variant (clade 1b) on the African continent and the first case in Sweden from a traveller who had been in an area of ​​Africa where the virus is circulating intensively.

This variant is distinct from clade 2, which caused a severe outbreak in Africa in 2022 and hundreds of cases in Europe, North America and other countries, and has already led to the declaration of an international health emergency between 2022 and 2023.