The DRC is the epicenter of the current resurgence of Mpox, with South Kivu and Equateur provinces being the hardest hit by the outbreak.
Out of more than 16,000 Mpox cases reported in the DRC in 2024, South Kivu leads with approximately 4,600 suspected and confirmed cases. According to local authorities, the province is currently seeing 350 new cases per week.
Dr. Vincent Sanvura, who coordinates the One Health zoonoses prevention project for VSF in the Kahuzi-Biega park region, describes the situation as 'increasingly worrying.'
Dr. Sanvura noted that due to the challenges faced by the health system, hospitals do not provide food or "caretakers"; it is the patient's family that handles this, raising the risk of contamination and infection even within hospitals.
"When children are ill, they are accompanied by their parents, who all spend the night in the same room, making it easy for the child to infect the mother or relatives who bring food," Sanvura said.
The doctor revealed that this lack of food in hospitals has even led some patients in quarantine at health centers in Kamituga to escape in search of food.
"This has contributed to spreading the disease elsewhere,' Dr. Sanvura observed.
Mpox is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but can also be transmitted through close physical contact. The disease causes fever, muscle pain, and skin lesions. The clade 1 strain responsible for the current outbreak in Africa has a fatality rate of 3.6% and is particularly dangerous for children, according to the Word Health Organisation.
Denis Ripoche, who visited in July to assess the Mpox crisis and the actions of his NGO, VSF, noted that the severe impact on South Kivu is not accidental, given the insecurity in the area, which has resulted in a lot of movement.
"It is a complex crisis zone with multiple constraints," Ripoche observed.
VSF is combating the spread of zoonotic epidemics among both animal and human populations in the region. This area experiences significant movement: commercial, natural, and currently driven by security constraints, particularly in Greater North Kivu, where M23 rebel groups have been advancing.
Limited diagnostic capacities in the region have also complicated the situation in South Kivu.
'Laboratory diagnostic capacities to detect Mpox cases are severely lacking," Sanvura said, adding, "Yet this is the most essential component in controlling diseases, especially zoonoses (animal-origin diseases like Mpox). We are therefore unable to conduct analyses even of contact individuals to isolate the pathogen. Asymptomatic individuals circulate, so the virus also spreads within the population."
So far, 13 countries on the African continent have confirmed cases of Mpox, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Data from the public health agency indicate that from the beginning of 2024 to August 23, a total of 21,466 potential cases of Mpox and 591 deaths have been reported from 13 African Union (AU) member states.
The AU members that have reported Mpox cases so far include Rwanda, Burundi, Cameroon, the Central African Republic, the Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Gabon, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda.
Some of the interventions Africa CDC has rolled out to address the outbreak include vaccination, which the agency stated earlier this week could begin "in the coming days."
Additionally, Africa CDC announced the deployment of around 200 epidemiologists and logisticians to all Mpox-affected African countries to support preparedness and response activities.
Wycliffe Nyamasege
