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WHO, Africa CDC begin response plan to check mpox outbreak

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A response strategy for the mpox outbreak throughout the continent was unveiled on Friday by the World Health Organisation and the Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).

The collaborative endeavour seeks to support African nations in their attempts to stop the virus’ spread and save lives by fortifying and expediting their response to it.

Starting this month and lasting until February of the next year, it is expected to cost almost $600 million.

Three weeks after the WHO deemed the new strain of mpox spreading to be a public health emergency of global concern, the plan was announced.

Dr. Jean Kaseya, director-general of the Africa CDC, stated that fifteen additional countries will gain preparedness while the other fourteen countries will receive five5% of the funding.

Through partners, the remaining 45% will be used for operational and technical assistance. The organisation did not say who would provide the funds.

“We have classified countries based on their degree of risk, where there is intense spread as is happening in eastern DRC and other places where there is transmission happening,” said WHO regional director for Africa, Matshidiso Moeti.

“And then right down to countries where we are working very much on building the preparedness and readiness to address in case cases appear, as has happened in Guinea.”

According to Kaseya, the strategy emphasises community involvement, lab testing, and surveillance—emphasizing that immunisations alone will not stop the outbreak from spreading.

The Africa CDC reported that there had been 5,549 confirmed cases of mpox across the continent since the beginning of 2024, along with 643 deaths related to the illness.

This indicates a considerable increase in infections as well as deaths over the preceding year.

Nineteen per cent of the cases are in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Children under the age of fifteen account for the majority of mpox infections in Burundi, the second most affected country, and Congo.

Mpox is a virus that can be transmitted from person to person through personal contact, as well as from place to person by objects and surfaces touched by a person infected with mpox.

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Musings From Abroad

US CDC issues second-highest Marburg travel advisory for Rwanda

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As a result of the Marburg disease epidemic in Rwanda, the United States government has announced that its agency will be issuing its second-highest level of travel advisory, advising citizens to avoid unnecessary travel. Rwanda is located in East Africa.

According to the US Department of Health and Human Services, the CDC will begin screening visitors who have visited Rwanda within the last 21 days before they enter the country.

The organisation advised travellers to Rwanda to take extra care when they visited the nation last week when it released its “level 2” travel advisory.

Since the first epidemic of the Ebola-like illness in Rwanda was discovered in late September, 46 cases and 12 fatalities have been documented. The death rate in Marburg might reach 88%.

Fruit bats carry the virus, which subsequently spreads to people who come into touch with the bodily fluids of infected people.

Rwanda has started to distribute vaccination doses against the virus, giving priority to those who are most at risk, healthcare staff who are most exposed, and those who have close contact with confirmed cases.

The first known outbreak of viral hemorrhagic fever in Rwanda was discovered in late September; to yet, 36 cases and 11 fatalities have been reported. The death rate in Marburg might reach 88%.

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Musings From Abroad

US ‘conflict minerals by disclosure rule’ has not lessened Congo bloodshed, monitor claims

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In a study released on Monday, a United States congressional watchdog stated that it had not discovered any proof that the conflict minerals disclosure rule implemented by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in 2012 had lessened bloodshed in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

 

According to a U.S. Government Accountability Office study, armed factions are still engaged in conflict over control of gold mines located in the country’s east.

 

It said that the regulation, which mandates that certain businesses disclose how they utilise gold, tungsten, tantalum, and tin, has probably had little impact on the bordering nations.

 

 

“GAO found no empirical evidence that the rule has decreased the occurrence or level of violence in the eastern DRC, where many mines and armed groups are located,” the report said.

 

 

“GAO also found the rule was associated with a spread of violence, particularly around informal, small-scale gold mining sites,” it said, adding that gold is the most difficult to trace, and easiest to smuggle, of the four minerals covered by the rule.

 

The top producer of tantalum in the world is Congo; both the US and the EU view it as a vital material.

 

The report further stated that “the SEC disagreed with some of GAO’s findings and raised concerns about some of its methodology and analyses.” According to the GAO, some of its modifications had no appreciable impact on its conclusions.

 

 

“As the agency noted in comments shared with GAO, SEC staff has serious concerns about the report, including that it makes assertions and reaches conclusions that rest on several erroneous factual assumptions, draws causal inferences that are not supported by GAO’s statistical analyses, and deviates significantly from the GAO’s previously issued reports,” the SEC said.

 

 

“GAO had not shared its final report with the SEC until today, so staff is reviewing it to determine if and how GAO addressed the SEC’s concerns,” it added.

Last year, GAO said that some U.S. companies buying minerals from Congo and its neighbours were failing to meet disclosure requirements.

 

The UN Security Council was informed on September 30 by Bintou Keita, the head of the U.N. mission in Congo, that M23 rebels in the east are making $300,000 a month in a zone they have taken over for coltan mining.

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