The Africa Mpox response plan envisages a budget of US$600 million for the six months from September 2024 to February 2025, with 55 percent being allocated to Mpox response and readiness in 28 countries and 45 percent to operational support.
Since 13 August 2024, when Africa CDC declared Mpox a medical emergency of continental significance, the agency has been fully engaged in supporting countries battling the disease.
The Public Health Emergency Operations Centre (PHEOC) in Addis Ababa has been reactivated for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, offering 24-7 case monitoring. Along with Regional Coordinating Centres (RCCs) in Lusaka, Nairobi, and Libreville, these hubs serve as critical command centres during public health crises, ensuring coordinated emergency preparedness, response, and recovery through advanced technology, dedicated workspaces, and robust communication systems.
Dr. Jean Kaseya, the Africa CDC Director General, has conducted weekly high-level briefings to update the media on key developments and engagements.
Training initiatives are underway, including sample collection, diagnosis, and sequencing with representatives from seven member states. The decentralisation of lab testing capacity has progressed, culminating in the procurement of 20,000 cartridges.
A new surveillance reporting protocol has been launched, emphasising data standardisation, genomic sequencing, and cross-border coordination to enhance detection and response. In addition, over 2,000 participants attended a continental R&D conference held on 29 August in Kinshasa to address knowledge gaps in medical countermeasures.
The finalised continental response plan, developed in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), focuses on 10 key pillars: coordination, surveillance, vaccination, and research. Member states are categorised into four risk-based groups to ensure targeted efforts and effective resource allocation.
In his third media briefing since Africa CDC declared Mpox a continental medical emergency on 13 August, Dr Kaseya said 72 epidemiologists are being deployed to support Mpox containment efforts in the affected region of Africa.
“We know the surveillance in Africa is still weak. We know that in many areas we have under-notification of cases,” he said.
Dr Kaseya also said efforts were underway to ensure that the 13 affected countries, particularly the DRC, received vaccines expeditiously. The DRC contributed USD10 million to the fight against the outbreak and requested two million vaccines from Japan that are safe for children.
Other efforts to contain the outbreak included an agreement with the European pharmaceutical company Bavarian Nordic to assist one of nine large African pharmaceutical companies to manufacture the Mpox vaccine.
Dr Kaseya said efforts were ongoing to finalise a continental action plan to coordinate support for member states. In the meantime, Africa CDC was already collaborating with other agencies through a joint incident management team – the first time that this had been tried. These agencies included the WHO, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the World Food Programme, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and Médecins Sans Frontières. “That will give us lessons on how to manage other outbreaks in the future,” said Dr Kaseya.
In addition to engaging with the DRC leaders, Africa CDC had been in touch with almost 200 partners from the public and private sectors and philanthropy in Africa and elsewhere. The unequivocal message was to support the fight against the Mpox outbreak. However, any moves to impose a travel ban on Africa were completely rejected. Dr Kaseya addressed reports of concerns about potential delays in the certification of vaccines designated for African countries, emphasising that WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus had assured him of authorising UNICEF and the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) to procure the vaccines even as engagements continue. “This for us is good news because we don’t want to see any kind of issues in terms of the quick deployment of vaccines in Africa,” he said.
