BRAZZAVILLE, Sept. 9 — Since 2022, 11 African nations have reported a total of 524 confirmed cases of monkeypox, including 12 fatalities, according to a statement made on Thursday by Matshidiso Moeti, regional director for Africa for the World Health Organization (WHO).
According to Moeti, the majority of the confirmed cases are found in Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and Nigeria. Out of the 12 recorded deaths, 6 were found in Nigeria, 4 in Ghana, and 2 in the Central African Republic.
Although no single monkeypox vaccine has been administered to any high-risk group in any of the African countries reporting cases, WHO has provided 39,000 test kits to countries, enabling improved testing rates, said Moeti.
Monkeypox is transmitted through close, usually skin-to-skin contact, such as being in contact with a person’s rashes, scabs, or bodily fluids, touching surfaces that have been exposed to the virus, or inhaling someone’s respiratory secretions.
According to Moeti, the COVID-19 pandemic has seen a six-week fall in cases throughout the African continent, with numbers already reaching those that were reported in the pandemic’s very early stages over three years ago.
(Xinhua)
