DRC: the government committed to the fight against the Monkeypox virus which has already caused the death of 548 people

Prime Minister Judith Suminwa spoke with Samuel Roger Kamba Mulamba, the Minister of Health and Jean Kaseya, Director General of Africa CDC*, the health agency of the African Union, on the evening of Tuesday August 20. It appears that in view of the start of the school year scheduled for September 2, the government is working hard to put in place preventive measures to protect children against this epidemic.

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This response strategy includes, among other things, awareness raising at school level. The Minister of Health and his colleague from National Education are working together on other provisions to be adopted.

The central executive says it is increasing efforts to respond to all stages of the fight against this disease through awareness, vaccination and care of patients.

An involvement in line with pillar 4 of its action program, relating to access to basic services, specify sources within the Prime Minister’s Office.

The Minister of Health assures that the central executive is focusing its efforts on mobilizing the resources necessary for the fight against the Mpox infection and the arrival next week of a batch of vaccines in the country.

“We have in fact announced 49 million USD for fairly specific needs but just for vaccination, we need 600 million USD, so the 49 million planned do not constitute the total budget. We are going to gain further strength because we adapt our plan regularly, and we are supported by Africa CDC in mobilizing resources. Moreover, thanks to Africa CDC and the help of the European Union, we have already been able to secure 215,000 doses,” declared the Minister of Health, Samuel Roger Kamba.

In this fight to block the path to monkeypox, the national health agency of the African Union is lending a helping hand to the DRC.

“We have a large team here working under the supervision of the Minister of Health. We have started to provide support of all kinds, we have also made efforts to secure vaccines, strengthen surveillance and laboratories, and we will continue according to the central government’s plan,” said Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC.

The government is also alerting the population to the new mode of transmission of this disease observed in the province of South Kivu.

“We have had many cases in Ecuador where this disease has always evolved in an endemic manner, but we have recently had many more cases in South Kivu, because quite simply since last year, we have seen that there is a new mode of transmission through sexual transmission. As soon as populations are displaced, as soon as there are increasingly liberal sexual practices because of this fragility of the population, we see this form of transmission developing,” he added.

Roger Kamba recalls that since the start of the year, a total of 548 people have died from monkeypox, and 15,664 potential cases have been recorded.

According to the Ministry of Health, the first symptoms of Mpox are fever, muscle pain, fatigue and the appearance of extensive rash, and this disease is mainly transmitted by direct contact with an infected person, skin lesions or internal mucous membranes such as the mouth, genital and anal region and sexual transmission.

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Health authorities call on the population to scrupulously observe hygienic rules including a regular hand washing.

CDC*: African Centers for Disease Control and Prevention