Level of awareness of Mpox threat raised

Maputo, 17 Aug (AIM) – The Mozambican Health Ministry has raised its level of awareness to cope with any possible cases of Mpox, following the declaration of a public health emergency by the World Health Organisation (WHO).

“Currently, we don’t have any cases of Mpox in Mozambique”, said the National Director of Public Health, Quinhas Fernandes, at a Maputo press conference on Friday. “We haven’t declared an emergency, but we have raised the level of alert so that we can carry out a lot of preventive and preparation activities”.

The WHO declaration of a public health emergency, he said, is important to ensure better coordination and mobilization of resources to respond to Mpox.

Fernandes said the Health Ministry has drawn up a plan to respond to the possible occurrence of cases of Mpox, and work is under way to strengthen laboratory testing capacities, and update therapeutic protocols.

He guaranteed that the country already has the capacity to test for Mpox at the National Health Institute (INS).

The recommended prevention measures, Fernandes said, are to avoid physical contact with any infected person or person suspected of carrying the virus, to use a face mask whenever near anyone suspected or confirmed of suffering from Mpox, to avoid contact with clothing or bedclothes used by infected people, and to clean and disinfect possibly infected surfaces.

Fernandes said that so far this year, up to 14 August, more than 15,600 cases of Mpox have been notified in Africa. 537 patients have died, which is a lethality rate of 3.4 per cent. The number of cases is an increase of more than 100 per cent when compared to the same period in 2023.

More than 96 per cent of the reported cases are from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). A further 12 countries have reported cases.

In addition to the DRC, the only country in the SADC (Southern African Development Community) region that has reported cases is South Africa, where there have been 24 cases and three deaths.

Fernandes also reported that from 9 July to 14 August, 238 cases of measles were diagnosed, all of them in the north – 170 in Cabo Delgado province and 68 in Niassa. There were 18 measles deaths, 17 in Cabo Delgado and one in Niassa. All the deaths occurred outside of the health units.

The outbreak appears to be over in Niassa, but in the previous 24 hours 16 new cases were diagnosed in Cabo Delgado.

Fernandes said that over 90 per cent of the cases in Cabo Delgado were in children under 15 years of age, and 48 were in children who had not been vaccinated against measles.

In response to the outbreak, emergency vaccination against measles was undertaken to halt the spread of the disease in Chiure district in Cabo Delgado, and in Sanga and Cuamba districts in Niassa.

(AIM)

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