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KINSHASA. – Africa is seeing a rapid increase in mpox cases with nearly 4 000 reported in the past week, the continent’s public health body said on Tuesday as it repeated a plea for long-awaited vaccines whose arrival this week in the most affected country, Congo, has been delayed.

Eighty-one deaths from mpox were reported in Africa in the past week, bringing the total cases and deaths to 22 863 and 622, respectively, Dr Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, told an online briefing.

About 380 000 doses of mpox vaccines have been promised by Western partners such as the European Union and the United States, he said. That’s less than 15% of the doses authorities have said are needed to end the mpox outbreaks in Congo, the epicentre of the global health emergency.

Following mpox outbreaks outside the African continent in 2022, wealthy countries quickly responded with vaccines and treatments from their stockpiles. However, only a few doses have reached Africa despite pleas from its governments.

At the earliest, the first batch of vaccine doses promised to support the new outbreaks in Congo will arrive on Sept. 1 after delays caused by documentation and emergency authorization issues, Kaseya said. — africanews.com