Africa's mpox response is less than 10% funded, says Africa CDC

Africa has secured less than 10% of the estimated $245 million it needs to fight a surging mpox outbreak on the continent, a senior official from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Wednesday.

The continent is under pressure to curb an outbreak of the potentially deadly infection that the World Health Organisation declared to be a global health emergency in mid-August, after a new strain began proliferating from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighbouring countries.

Africa CDC has pulled together a budget to determine the amount of money available for the mpox response and the resources it needs to mobilise.

“We've come to the first estimate of $245m [R4.34bn],” Africa CDC chief of staff Ngashi Ngongo said at a WHO meeting in the Republic of Congo's capital Brazzaville.

DRC's government has committed $10m (R177.2m) to support the fight against the outbreak while the AU has approved $10.4m (R184.3m), Ngongo said.

Therefore about $20m (R354.4m) is currently available for the response, he said, adding that these figures would be updated.

“The current gap where we stand today is about $224m [R3.97bn] that we are looking for,” he said.

Jean Kaseya, director-general of Africa CDC, said during the meeting that the organisation was moving towards securing almost 1-million doses of mpox vaccine. Those include:

• 215,000 doses from vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic;
• 100,000 doses from France;
• almost 100,000 doses from Germanyl and
• about 500,000 doses from Spain.

There is no timeline yet on when the vaccines might reach the DRC, which is the most affected by the virus.

Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill.

Reuters