The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and WHO have launched a joint response plan to the monkeypox outbreak on the African continent

The African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO) have announced the launch of a joint response to monkeypox outbreaks on the African continent.

African CDC Director Jean Casea said in an online press conference Friday (September 6) that the six-month joint response plan, with funding of about $600 million, will help African countries improve their capacity to deal with monkeypox outbreaks and provide operational and technical support to African countries through enhanced collaboration, Xinhua reported.

African countries have reported 24,851 suspected cases of monkeypox so far this year, including 643 deaths, Jean Casea said. The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is the epicenter of the monkeypox epidemic, with a total of 20,463 suspected cases reported this year, including 635 deaths. The first batch of 99,100 doses of monkeypox vaccine arrived in Kinshasa, the capital of Congo, on the 5th, and the government of Congo is planning the vaccination work.

Jean Casea said that since May this year, the number of monkeypox cases in Africa has shown an increase, and as African countries began the school season earlier this month, the risk of transmission has increased. He said that the monkeypox vaccine will be shipped to other African countries in the near future, and the African Center for Disease Control and Prevention is strengthening cooperation with the health departments of many African countries on virus prevention and control and vaccination.

On August 14, the World Health Organization declared the monkeypox outbreak a "public health emergency of international concern." A new strain of the monkeypox virus, known as Clado-IB, emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo last year and has spread rapidly to neighboring countries such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, which have never reported monkeypox cases, the WHO said. On 26 August, WHO launched a global strategic preparedness and Response plan for the monkeypox outbreak to contain the spread of the disease through coordinated global, regional and country efforts.

Monkeypox is a viral zoonotic disease. The initial symptoms of monkeypox infection in humans include fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, and swollen lymph nodes, which can progress to a widespread rash on the face and body. Most people recover within a few weeks, but some become seriously ill or even die.