<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="4000" height="2667" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/4RI6JH2DCRIBTOTEG67K23A2OM.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-591756"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An American flag and USAID flag fly outside the USAID building in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 1, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



WASHINGTON, April 8 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration on Tuesday moved to reinstate at least six recently canceled U.S. foreign aid programs for emergency food assistance, six sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.



The quick reversal of decisions made just days ago underscored the rapid-fire nature of Trump&#8217;s cuts to foreign aid. That has led to programs being cut, restored then cut again, disrupting international humanitarian operations.



USAID Acting Deputy Administrator Jeremy Lewin, who has previously been identified as a member of billionaire Elon Musk&#8217;s Department of Government Efficiency, asked staff in an internal email to reverse the terminations.



He asked to restore awards to the World Food Programme in Lebanon, Syria, Somalia, Jordan, Iraq and Ecuador, five sources familiar with the matter said.



The administration has also resumed four awards to the International Organization for Migration in the Pacific region, two sources familiar with the matter said.



&#8220;Sorry for all the back and forth on awards,&#8221; Lewin said on Tuesday in the internal email seen by Reuters. &#8220;There are a lot of stakeholders and we need to do better about balancing these competing interests — that’s my fault and I take responsibility,&#8221; he added.



Reuters reported on Monday that the Trump administration had ended life-saving aid programs for more than a dozen countries including Afghanistan, Yemen, Somalia and Syria, totaling over $1.3 billion.



According to Stand Up For Aid, an advocacy group of current and former U.S. officials, WFP contracts canceled on Lewin’s orders last weekend for Lebanon, Syria, Somalia and Jordan totaled more than $463 million.



Many of the terminated programs had been granted waivers by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio following an initial round of cuts to foreign aid programs. The State Department said those did not reflect a final decision.



The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment about restoring the awards.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-a-death-sentence">A &#8216;DEATH SENTENCE&#8217;</h2>



The decision to restore some aid followed pressure from inside the administration and from Congress, two sources said.



The World Food Programme said on Monday that the U.S. notified the organization it was eliminating emergency food assistance funding in 14 countries, warning: &#8220;If implemented, this could amount to a death sentence for millions of people facing extreme hunger and starvation.&#8221;



The U.S. did not restore aid to Taliban-ruled Afghanistan and to Yemen, most of which is controlled by Islamist militants of the Iran-backed Houthi movement. Washington has been the largest aid donor to both countries, which have suffered years of devastating war.



State Department spokesperson Tammy Bruce on Tuesday told reporters that the United States had concerns that WFP funding for Yemen and Afghanistan was benefiting the Houthis and the Taliban.



&#8220;There were a few programs that were cut in other countries that were not meant to be cut that have been rolled back and put into place,&#8221; Bruce said, adding that the administration remains committed to foreign aid.



Among the cuts over the weekend were $169.8 million for the WFP in Somalia, covering food assistance, nutrition for malnourished babies and children and humanitarian air support. In Syria, $111 million was cut from WFP food assistance.



The cuts have been the latest piece of the Trump administration&#8217;s&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N3QF0Q8&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">drive to dismantle</a>&nbsp;USAID, the main U.S. humanitarian aid agency.



The administration has canceled billions of dollars in foreign aid since the Republican president began his second term on January 20 in an overhaul that officials described as marked by&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL6N3OZ00X&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">chaos and confusion</a>.



Senate Foreign Relations Committee Democrats on Tuesday wrote a letter to Rubio regarding plans to restructure the State Department, including by folding in USAID, which they said was &#8220;unconstitutional, illegal, unjustified, damaging, and inefficient.&#8221;



(Reporting by Jonathan Landay, Daphne Psaledakis and Humeyra Pamuk; Additional reporting by Patricia Zengerle and Michelle Nichols; Editing by Don Durfee and Cynthia Osterman)

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Trump administration moves to restore some terminated foreign aid programs, sources say

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="4000" height="2667" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/4RI6JH2DCRIBTOTEG67K23A2OM.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-591756"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">An American flag and USAID flag fly outside the USAID building in Washington, D.C., U.S., February 1, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON/JOHANNESBURG/GENEVA, (Reuters) &#8211; U.S.-funded projects worldwide, including those providing lifesaving care for millions of people in countries such as Sudan and South Africa, received termination notices on Thursday sending shockwaves across the global aid community.



The latest cancellations come as U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration nears completion of a review to ensure that grants are aligned with his &#8220;America First&#8221; agenda after ordering a 90-day pause on all foreign aid in January to assess whether projects were consistent with his policy aims.



U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio had dismissed concerns that Washington was ending foreign aid, saying waivers had been provided to life-saving services.



Only weeks later, the Trump administration decided to terminate more than 90% of the U.S. Agency for International Development programmes, according to a February 25 court document. Those included many that were initially covered by waivers such as work addressing HIV as well as wider health programmes. It is unclear whether the projects can be reinstated.



Major United Nations health programmes were among those to get termination notices, including UNAIDS, the Stop TB Partnership and Scaling Up Nutrition as well as projects helping millions of forcibly displaced people.



&#8220;We are hit, but we will continue to be there,&#8221; Lucica Ditiu, Stop TB&#8217;s executive director, said.



Ditiu said that the group has different sources of funding it would use for procuring TB tests and treatments, but that it would have to terminate contracts with 140 partners around the world, many of which provide services including helping TB patients get diagnosed and stay on treatment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-egregious-breaches">&#8216;EGREGIOUS BREACHES&#8217;</h2>



Charlotte Slente, secretary general of the Danish Refugee Council, said she was appalled after receiving more than 20 termination notices for projects across a range of countries including Sudan, Yemen and Colombia.



&#8220;Not only are these terminations egregious breaches of contracts, but they endanger the lives of millions of the world&#8217;s most vulnerable people,&#8221; Slente said, adding that the decision would hit forcibly displaced people in conflict zones.



&#8220;While it is understood that incoming governments want to review their overseas development assistance, the decisions from the U.S. government over the last month are abrupt and unilateral, and the rationale for these are unfathomable,&#8221; Slente added.



A global non-profit with projects on malaria and newborn health, among other areas, said the majority of its contracts had been cancelled. Smaller organisations were also hit, such as Khana in Cambodia, a TB and HIV organisation, and many organisations working on HIV and AIDS in South Africa.



UNAIDS on its website called the termination of its relationship with USAID a &#8220;serious development&#8221; that would affect lifesaving services, and said it had asked the U.S. government for more information.



Reuters was not immediately able to determine how many organisations worldwide were affected. Trump&#8217;s administration also eliminated nearly 30% of State Department foreign assistance grants, worth $4.4 billion.



The State Department did not respond to a question on why life-saving aid programs were terminated.



&#8220;Secretary Rubio and (USAID) Deputy Administrator (Peter) Marocco have determined your award is not aligned with Agency priorities and made a determination that continuing this program is not in the national interest,&#8221; said the notice received by organisations, which was seen by Reuters.



For some groups, USAID represents the majority of their funding, and they will struggle to survive, while for others it is only one of many donors.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-devastating-blow">&#8216;DEVASTATING BLOW&#8217;</h2>



International AIDS Society President Beatriz Grinsztejn, referring to cuts worldwide, said: &#8220;The U.S. funding cuts are dismantling the system. HIV treatment is crumbling. TB services are collapsing.&#8221;



In South Africa, which has the world&#8217;s largest number of people living with HIV at around 8 million, health experts said the cuts could roll back years of progress on the epidemic.



&#8220;We will see lives lost. We are going to see this epidemic walk back as a result of this,&#8221; said Linda-Gail Bekker, chief operating officer of the Desmond Tutu HIV Foundation, which works with many organisations that were affected.



Bekker said she expected a funding cut for programmes targeting specific groups such as LGBT+ people and sex workers, but in fact the cuts are far-reaching and include HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment programmes for women and children.



The United States provides about 17% of South Africa&#8217;s HIV/AIDS budget, and health experts said this funding was crucial for providing testing and getting new patients on treatment.



&#8220;The programmes who received their termination letters this morning were among the most efficient, effective health delivery programmes in the country,&#8221; said Francois Venter, executive director of the Ezintsha Research Centre in Johannesburg, which is not funded by USAID, calling it a &#8220;devastating blow&#8221; for South Africa&#8217;s HIV response.



Nonprofit Humanity &amp; Inclusion had more than 30 contracts with the U.S. government to provide services to hundreds of thousands of people with disabilities in multiple countries. Over the past 36 hours, the organisation received notice that about half of those contracts had been cancelled, said its U.S. executive director Hannah Guedenet.



&#8220;If you want to cut funding,&#8221; Guedenet said &#8220;&#8230; there&#8217;s a way to responsibly do that. And that is not what&#8217;s being done. This is complete disregard for human life.&#8221;



US Supreme Court allows Trump&#8217;s freeze of foreign aid funding temporarily.



(Reporting by Nellie Peyton in Johannesburg, Jennifer Rigby in London, Emma Farge in Geneva and Humeyra Pamuk in Washington; Editing by Andrew Heavens and Will Dunham)

Services to millions of people collapse as USAID cuts contracts worldwide

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1080" height="720" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/RGENMVFBKFNCJPXWG4EPKO7ZPA.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-587782"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Scientific officer Anathi Nkayi works in the research lab at the University of Cape Town&#8217;s Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine, in Cape Town, South Africa February 17, 2025. REUTERS/Esa Alexander</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Feb 18 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;South African lab technician Nozipho Mlotshwa was waiting for the test results for a potential HIV vaccine, which has eluded scientists for decades, when the order came from USAID to stop work.



The first round of vaccines she and her colleagues made in Johannesburg had produced an immune response in rabbits, which was promising but not conclusive &#8211; so they tweaked the formula and sent off four new versions for pre-clinical tests.



&#8220;This was very exciting. We were getting quite good results,&#8221; Mlotshwa, 32, told Reuters in the lab in the Antiviral Gene Therapy Research Unit at the city&#8217;s University of the Witwatersrand.



Now the animal blood samples containing their results are sitting untouched in a freezer.



A trial of an earlier, separate vaccine candidate, which was about to be tested on humans in South Africa as well as Kenya and Uganda, is also on ice.



Both trials are among the casualties of U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to dismantle the United States Agency for International Development (USAID).



They are part of a wider South African-led HIV vaccine development scheme known as BRILLIANT and funded entirely by a $45 million grant from USAID. It is unclear if or when the project could resume. The U.S. State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment.



&#8220;It feels like you&#8217;re building something and you could really make a huge difference,&#8221; Nigel Garrett, Chief Scientific Officer at the Desmond Tutu Health Foundation, a partner in the project, said.



&#8220;And then it&#8217;s wiped away.&#8221;



The project is one of many research efforts worldwide to be hit by Trump&#8217;s actions since taking office last month. Others include halting efforts to protect food crops from pests and diseases and blocking publication of a paper on the mpox outbreak.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-holy-grail">&#8216;HOLY GRAIL&#8217;</h2>



HIV&#8217;s ability to mutate quickly has confounded efforts to create a vaccine ever since it was first identified in 1983. The researchers in Johannesburg are using the mRNA technology that created some COVID-19 vaccines.



Several other mRNA-based HIV vaccine candidates worldwide have reached clinical trials. BRILLIANT is unique in being Africa-led, aiming to develop capacity for producing vaccines in Africa.



For the past year the Johannesburg team had been working with genetic sequences from two South African patients who have HIV but whose bodies produce a rare type of antibody that neutralizes the virus. They are trying to simulate that immune response.



&#8220;We were gaining momentum,&#8221; said Patrick Arbuthnot, director of the research unit, adding: &#8220;an HIV vaccine is the holy grail of the field&#8221;.



Trump in January ordered a 90-day pause in all foreign development assistance pending assessment of its consistency with his &#8220;America First&#8221; foreign policy.



Separately, he has targeted South Africa with an executive order to cut all funding to the country, citing disapproval of its land reform policy and its genocide case against U.S. ally Israel.



The U.S. foreign aid freeze has affected programmes across the globe, stranding shipments of life-saving medical supplies, including HIV drugs, and leaving disaster response teams unable to deploy. Waivers for &#8220;life-saving humanitarian assistance&#8221; have been hampered.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-good-for-the-world">&#8216;GOOD FOR THE WORLD&#8217;</h2>



Because South Africa has the world&#8217;s largest population of people living with HIV, at more than 8 million, it is a hub for research on the virus.



&#8220;Most of the landmark and groundbreaking studies have been conducted in this country. But these have been good for the whole world,&#8221; said Ntobeko Ntusi, CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, which is spearheading the HIV vaccine search.



Ntusi said he did not expect funding for projects like BRILLIANT to resume, given the executive order on aid to South Africa. The council gets about a third of its funding from U.S. federal sources, for research that is mostly on HIV and tuberculosis but covers other areas including maternal and infant mortality and antimicrobial resistance, he said.



Garrett said the shot that was ready for testing on humans was a mix of two vaccine substances developed in the United States and the Netherlands which have shown promise but never been tested together.



They are now sitting in storage.



&#8220;We had a huge opportunity, good funding. It&#8217;s difficult for other funders to fill that gap,&#8221; he said.



(Additional reporting by Catherine Schenck and Shafiek Tassiem; Editing by Tim Cocks and Aidan Lewis)

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Trump’s aid cuts stop South African HIV vaccine trials in their tracks

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="4629" height="3099" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/H3WEQN4JI5IRFH4OUNIVSMUKW4.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-583609"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A logo is pictured outside a building of the United Nations AIDS agency (UNAIDS) in Geneva, Switzerland, April 6, 2021. Picture taken April 6, 2021. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



GENEVA, Feb 7 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;More than six million people could die from HIV and AIDS in the next four years if U.S. President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration pulls its global funding&nbsp;for programmes, the United Nations AIDS agency said on Friday.



Although a waiver was placed on HIV/AIDS programmes in&nbsp;last month&#8217;s&nbsp;U.S. foreign aid funding freeze, many concerns remained about the future of treatment programmes, the deputy executive director of UNAIDS told reporters in Geneva.



&#8220;There is a lot of confusion especially on the community level, how the waiver will be implemented. We&#8217;re seeing a lot of disruption of delivery of treatment services&#8221;, Christine Stegling said.



Trump put hundreds of millions of dollars&#8217; worth of foreign aid donations on hold for 90 days upon taking office on January 20. In the following days, the U.S. State Department issued a waiver on the President&#8217;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) &#8211; the world&#8217;s leading HIV initiative &#8211; for life-saving humanitarian assistance.



While welcoming the waiver, Stegling stressed the situation remains chaotic.



Amid a broader decline of funding, Stegling warned there would be a 400% increase in AIDS deaths if PEPFAR financial support is not re-authorized between 2025 and 2029.



&#8220;That&#8217;s 6.3 million people, 6.3 million AIDS-related deaths that will occur in future&#8230;Any penny, any cut, any pause, will matter for all of us&#8221; she said, urging U.N. member states to step in.



&#8220;In Ethiopia, we have 5,000 public health worker contracts that are funded by U.S. assistance. And all of these have been terminated,&#8221; Stegling said.



She highlighted that community clinics were facing the biggest interruption as they are &#8220;entirely dependent&#8221; on U.S. government funding.



She expressed concern that some people may not come forward for treatment, which could in turn increase new HIV infections.



U.S. donations account for the majority of global funding for the U.N. programme that operates in 70 countries, leading global efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030.



Trump&#8217;s administration says it is reviewing all foreign-aid programmes to see if they align with his &#8220;America First&#8221; policy.



(Reporting by Olivia Le Poidevin, Editing by Miranda Murray and Angus MacSwan)

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Six million people could die from HIV and AIDS if US funding stops, UN agency warns

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="4795" height="3197" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/DT3MRWIAVBNLPG5NKLM5P7HA4Y.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-583221"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Laurent Muschel, HERA Director General, and Jean Kaseya, Africa CDC Director General, stand near mpox vaccines as first batches arrive at N&#8217;Djili International Airport in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of Congo September 5, 2024. REUTERS/Justin Makangara/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Feb 6 (Reuters) &#8211; Africa&#8217;s leading public health official will write to the U.S. Secretary of State on Thursday to highlight how the U.S. aid freeze is threatening the lives of people across the continent and efforts to contain disease outbreaks that could ultimately impact Americans.



Jean Kaseya, head of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), will raise concerns with Marco Rubio about the impact on patients with diseases like HIV and the risk of an mpox pandemic also fuelled by conflict in eastern Congo, he told Reuters.



&#8220;When I got the information about the pause &#8230;I was alarmed,&#8221; Kaseya said. &#8220;How can we respond to all of the ongoing outbreaks if we don&#8217;t have funding?”



Kaseya wrote to African leaders over the weekend warning that without urgent intervention to plug the financial gaps caused by the U.S. freeze and other governments cutting aid budgets there could be an additional 2-4 million deaths from preventable diseases a year on the continent.



&#8220;This pause will not just affect Africa but also the U.S.,&#8221; he said, warning that disease outbreaks will spread further without fully-funded efforts to stop them.



Conflict was also threatening the health response in parts of Africa, Kaseya added, which he included in both letters.



Fighting in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has impacted the mpox response as well as measles and cholera outbreaks, he said. For example, millions of doses of mpox vaccines, including doses donated by Japan for children, are stuck in Kinshasa because of the security situation in Goma.



&#8220;The U.S. and others don&#8217;t have to forget the lessons of COVID. When you don&#8217;t open your eyes to something ongoing in Africa, we can have a mutation of the virus that will become a pandemic and affect all of us,&#8221; said Kaseya.



The U.S. aid pause and funding freeze means Africa CDC is short around $200 million for its efforts to fight mpox, he said, part of the $1.1 billion originally pledged.



For this and other efforts the aid freeze must be lifted quickly, he said, although he thanked Rubio for the waiver put in place for lifesaving aid and the President&#8217;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR).



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Ros Russell)

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Africa’s top health official presses U.S. to resume aid

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="5000" height="3333" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/UUYZET5LUJINVGAODHS5PI2XNQ.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-582314"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">U.S. President Donald Trump takes questions as he speaks to reporters about Wednesday&#8217;s deadly midair collision between a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter and American Eagle flight 5342 near Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, in the Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, U.S., January 30, 2025. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz</figcaption></figure>



LAGOS/JOHANNESBURG, (Thomson Reuters Foundation) &#8211; President Donald Trump&#8217;s decision to put a halt to U.S. foreign aid sparked intense and swift panic last month, but a partial U-turn has done little to calm nerves, fuelling a debate about the viability of the global aid system.



Hours after his inauguration on Jan. 20, Trump ordered a 90-day pause in foreign aid, including the supply of drugs for HIV treatment under the President&#8217;s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the world&#8217;s leading HIV initiative.



As charities and development agencies reeled at the speed and scale of the policy change, people like Harrison Ibeh, a 32-year-old gay Nigerian who is HIV positive, wondered how they would cope without life-saving antiretroviral (ARV) therapies.



&#8220;I’m mentally down right now,&#8221; Ibeh told&nbsp;the Thomson Reuters Foundation&nbsp;in Lagos, Nigeria.



&#8220;With no job at the moment, how can I afford to buy ARV?&#8221;



Daniel Chukwuka, a HIV-positive bisexual man who lives in Port Harcourt in southern Nigeria,&nbsp;said he was due to pick up new medication in two weeks.



&#8220;I am scared. I don&#8217;t want to die,&#8221; Chukwuka said.



Then, as aid agencies grappled with the effect of Trump&#8217;s executive order on their operations, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an emergency waiver for life-saving humanitarian assistance on Jan. 28.&nbsp;Ibeh and Chukwuka spoke to the Thomson Reuters Foundation before the waiver was announced.



UNAIDS welcomed the waiver and said it would allow access to HIV treatment for people in 55 countries worldwide that are funded by the U.S.&nbsp;But there was still some confusion over what treatments would be exempted from the freeze and concern over what it all meant for the future of U.S. aid funding.



On Saturday, the State Department confirmed PEPFAR was covered by Rubio&#8217;s waiver and clarified what activities were allowed, including life-saving HIV care and treatment services, prevention and treatment of infections including tuberculosis (TB), laboratory services, and procurement and supply chain for commodities/medicines.



PEPFAR directly supports more than 20 million people living with HIV, or around two-thirds of all people receiving HIV treatment globally, according to UNAIDS.



In Nigeria, around 2 million people were living with HIV in 2023, according to UNAIDS, and around 1.6 million of those are on treatment.



Although&nbsp;there has been a reprieve for PEPFAR for now, Trump&#8217;s decision to pause foreign aid, and other orders and declarations relating to LGBTQ+ rights, have forced NGOs to wonder how secure future U.S. funding will be.



On Saturday, Reuters quoted two sources as saying that Trump&#8217;s administration was also moving to put USAID under State Department control in what would be a significant overhaul of how Washington allocates U.S. foreign aid.



And on Monday, billionaire Elon Musk, who is heading Trump&#8217;s drive to shrink the federal government, said work is underway to shut down USAID, which he described in a social media talk as &#8220;beyond repair&#8221;.



For some, the damage has already been done.



Nigerian community worker Moses, who did not want to give his last name for fear of repercussions, said he was let go from his job helping those living with HIV just days after Trump&#8217;s original announcement of a freeze.



&#8220;We knew something like this might happen but we didn&#8217;t imagine it would be so sudden,&#8221; he said.



&#8220;This funding freeze on PEPFAR would greatly reduce the quality of life and we would see more new cases if nothing urgent is done about this,&#8221; he said last Tuesday.



Experts warn that interruptions in ARV treatment can lead to increased viral loads and transmission rates and could even see the development of drug-resistant strains of HIV.



&#8220;The ripple effects of this decision could undermine global efforts to end AIDS as a public health threat,&#8221; Moses said.



Before Rubio’s waiver was announced, the World Health Organization expressed similar concerns, saying a prolonged funding halt for HIV programmes could lead to rises in new infections and deaths, &#8220;reversing decades of progress&#8221;.



Compounding international uncertainty, Trump also pledged to pull out of the&nbsp;WHO&nbsp;&#8211; although he later said he might rejoin &#8211;&nbsp;and promised&nbsp;to put a halt to a U.S. refugee resettlement programme.



The United States is by far the largest donor of aid globally. In fiscal year 2023, it disbursed $72 billion of assistance worldwide on everything from women&#8217;s health in conflict zones to access to clean water, HIV/AIDS treatments, energy security and anti-corruption work.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-urgent-need-for-alternative-funding">&#8216;URGENT NEED FOR ALTERNATIVE FUNDING&#8217;</h2>



In South Africa, at the Triangle Project, a rights organisation advocating for LGBTQ+ communities, the effects of Trump&#8217;s orders are already filtering through.



Even though the Project does not receive funding directly from PEPFAR or USAID, it works closely with groups that do, and they have already been affected.



&#8220;Community health workers were immediately told to stop working, leaving gaps in care,&#8221; said Ling Sheperd, the Triangle Project&#8217;s communications director, noting that the affected organisations included those working on HIV prevention, substance abuse programmes and maternal health.



&#8220;People who rely on these services are now left without clarity on where to turn,&#8221; she said.



&#8220;The funding pause puts people&#8217;s lives at risk. Access to HIV treatment and prevention is already a challenge for many LGBTQ+ people due to stigma and discrimination in healthcare,&#8221; she said.



Aurora Krotoa Moses, a 23-year-old South African transgender activist, found out on Facebook last week that the health clinic where she gets her hormone medication was closing its doors for now.



Her hormone therapy is funded by the local government but administered at a clinic that&#8217;s also funded by USAID and PEPFAR, just one example of the broader impacts of an aid shutdown.



&#8220;I was hit by a brick of emotions &#8230; I had to rush to the clinic to go at least take some medication for the time being and I did luckily,&#8221; she said.



&#8220;My friend, she only has two weeks of medication. If you don&#8217;t take it every day, the process of de-transitioning starts and the stress of gender dysphoria and all of that starts creeping back,&#8221; she added.



The clinic told Moses and her friend that they would have to seek the medication at a private hospital, an expense many cannot afford, or go through the public healthcare system &#8211; but this made her fearful.



&#8220;Are they willing to accept us as we are? Will they understand us? I don&#8217;t know.&#8221;



The Triangle Project&#8217;s Sheperd said the funding freeze also exposes a deeper problem &#8211; local reliance on foreign aid, a dependency, she said, that mirrored the dynamics of resource exploitation.



&#8220;The recent freeze in U.S. aid shows just how vulnerable this system makes us: vital programmes like HIV treatment, maternal health, and TB prevention could come to a halt, putting millions at risk with a stroke of a pen,&#8221; she said.



&#8220;We need urgent alternative funding solutions, both from local government and international partners committed to sustaining health programmes.&#8221;



Transgender activist Moses agreed that local authorities needed to step up, particularly on gender-affirming care, and she said the aid freeze had already taken a toll.



&#8220;It&#8217;s the hopelessness on people&#8217;s faces. Looking at the clinic staff, they have to smile and to kind of keep us at ease. But they are also now jobless.&#8221;



(Reporting by Kim Harrisberg and Nelson Chigozirim; Writing by Clar Ni Chonghaile; Editing by Ana Nicolaci da Costa. The Thomson Reuters Foundation is the charitable arm of Thomson Reuters.)

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‘I don’t want to die’: Trump’s aid plans raise fear in Africa

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="427" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/BIVKA6GHCZOQ5JES7QGJOKH65I.avif" alt="" class="wp-image-554610"/><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Undated handout picture of a Bavarian Nordic research team member holding a test tube obtained by Reuters on August 16, 2024. Bavarian Nordic/Mikkel Inumineq/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



COPENHAGEN, Nov 15 (Reuters) &#8211; Vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic BAVA.COexpects the incoming Trump administration to boost biodefence funding despite the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine sceptic, as health secretary, the company&#8217;s CEO said on Friday.



Shares in European vaccine makers fell on Friday after U.S. President-elect Donald Trump selected Kennedy, who has previously spread misinformation on vaccines, to lead the top health agency.



&#8220;Vaccine scepticism was part of Trump&#8217;s first administration,&#8221; Bavarian Nordic CEO Paul Chaplin told Reuters in an interview.



&#8220;When I look back at his first administration, it was some of the most successful years in terms of the public preparedness business with the U.S. government,&#8221; he said.



Biodefence is preparing for and responding to potential biological threats, from pandemics to potential biological warfare.



&#8220;The only thing I&#8217;ve ever seen with a Republican administration is that the biodefence business and funding goes up,&#8221; said Chaplin.



Bavarian Nordic is providing the U.S. government with a freeze-dried variant of its smallpox vaccine as part of America&#8217;s smallpox preparedness strategy. Its current contract with the U.S. government expires in 2027, Chaplin said.



The company&#8217;s smallpox vaccine is also approved for mpox in certain countries.



Chaplin said he is a bit more concerned how Kennedy will impact the spread of vaccine scepticism and sales for general vaccine programs, which include an anti-rabies treatment.



&#8220;It doesn&#8217;t help when you&#8217;ve got a health secretary who&#8217;s sceptical of vaccines in convincing the public to take vaccines,&#8221; Chaplin said.



Shares in Bavarian fell more than 16%, hurt by third-quarter results. Analysts at Sydbank and Kempen told Reuters that the nomination of Kennedy also weighed on the stock.



(Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Stine Jacobsen and Angus MacSwan)

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US expected to increase biodefence spending under Trump, says vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="750" height="501" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Mpox-test.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-554540" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Mpox-test.jpg 750w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Mpox-test-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/11/Mpox-test-135x90.jpg 135w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 750px) 100vw, 750px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">A test tube labelled &#8220;Mpox virus positive&#8221; is held in this illustration taken August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) &#8211; Global health advocates have written to the makers of a key mpox diagnostic test to call for its price to be cut from around $20 per test to $5, to help tackle low testing rates in poorer countries badly hit by the virus.



Medical diagnostics firm Cepheid&#8217;s GeneXpert mpox test is one of three approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization, but the price is prohibitive for countries like the hardest-hit Democratic Republic of Congo, activists said.



Mpox was declared a global public health emergency by the WHO this summer, when an outbreak in Congo began to spread to neighbouring countries. The virus typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions and can kill.



This week, WHO said cases in Africa showed a &#8220;general rising trend&#8221; although they may be levelling off in parts of Congo. But a lack of tests is hindering the capacity to confirm cases, particularly in Congo, one of the world&#8217;s poorest countries.



&#8220;We urge you to lower the price of the mpox test cartridges to $5 and prioritize supply for African countries fighting mpox outbreaks,&#8221; read the letter sent by groups including rights NGO Public Citizen and medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres.



Cepheid&#8217;s test is particularly important because machines that process the results are available across Africa, as they are also used for tuberculosis testing.



Danaher DHR.N, the parent company of Cepheid, reduced its TB test prices to $7.97 last year after pressure from activists.



Asked for comment on the letter, a Cepheid spokesperson wrote: &#8220;We have worked quickly to ramp up production of our mpox test, including in response to an urgent request from the WHO.&#8221;



The company was prioritising orders from areas where the test was most needed and had an access programme providing a &#8220;significant&#8221; discount for orders made through the WHO and similar organizations, the statement said. It did not reveal what that discount was or make any other comment on price.



The $5 price tag proposed by advocates is based on research showing that the tests can be produced for less than that.



Public Citizen&#8217;s access to medicines director Peter Maybarduk said the recent WHO approval was an opportunity to ramp up testing. &#8220;Lower prices would help health agencies meet the moment,&#8221; he said.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Ros Russell and Philippa Fletcher)

Mpox test

Health advocates press Cepheid for cheaper mpox tests

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="502" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PB3HNVGWABNF7E7AH3DHYHBUFA-820x502.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-534011" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PB3HNVGWABNF7E7AH3DHYHBUFA-820x502.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PB3HNVGWABNF7E7AH3DHYHBUFA-300x184.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PB3HNVGWABNF7E7AH3DHYHBUFA-147x90.jpg 147w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PB3HNVGWABNF7E7AH3DHYHBUFA-768x470.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PB3HNVGWABNF7E7AH3DHYHBUFA-1536x940.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/PB3HNVGWABNF7E7AH3DHYHBUFA-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Sumaya Hatungimana, 12, shows the marks on her hands after recovering from Mpox, outside her house in Kinama zone, in Bujumbura, Burundi, August 28, 2024. REUTERS/Ngendakumana Evrard/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Sept 23 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nearly 30,000 suspected mpox cases have been reported in Africa so far this year, most of them in Democratic Republic of Congo where&nbsp;tests have run out, the World Health Organization said on Monday.



More than 800 people died of suspected mpox across the continent in that time, the U.N. health body said in its report. Congo&#8217;s central African neighbour Burundi has also been hit by a growing outbreak, it added.



Mpox can spread through close contact. Usually mild, it is fatal in rare cases. It&nbsp;typically&nbsp;causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions on the body.



The WHO statement did not give comparative figures from previous years. The African Union&#8217;s public health agency has said 14,957 cases and 739 deaths were reported from seven affected states in 2023 &#8211; a 78.5% increase in new cases from 2022.



There were 29,342 suspected cases and 812 deaths across Africa from January to Sept.&nbsp;15&nbsp;this year, according to the WHO report.



A total of 2,082 confirmed cases were reported across the world in August alone, the highest since November 2022, the WHO said.



On Saturday, the World Bank&#8217;s pandemic fund said it would give $128.89 million to ten African countries to help fight the outbreak.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Andrew Heavens)

FILE PHOTO: Mpox survivors return home after recovering in Kinama zone, in Bujumbura

Almost 30,000 suspected mpox cases in Africa this year, WHO says

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="429" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/5R2BE5PG4RMMTDUCOPH2YZFV5Q-820x429.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-530148" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/5R2BE5PG4RMMTDUCOPH2YZFV5Q-820x429.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/5R2BE5PG4RMMTDUCOPH2YZFV5Q-300x157.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/5R2BE5PG4RMMTDUCOPH2YZFV5Q-160x84.jpg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/5R2BE5PG4RMMTDUCOPH2YZFV5Q-768x402.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/5R2BE5PG4RMMTDUCOPH2YZFV5Q-1536x804.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/09/5R2BE5PG4RMMTDUCOPH2YZFV5Q.jpg 1920w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles captured at the NIAID Integrated Research Facility in Fort Detrick</figcaption></figure>



DAKAR, Sept 12 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) is able to raise $600 million to fight a surging mpox outbreak on the continent, the agency&#8217;s head said on Thursday.



The World Health Organization declared mpox a global health emergency in mid-August, after a new strain began spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring countries.



&#8220;If you want to know if I&#8217;m positive that we can raise the $600 million, I will safely say yes,&#8221; Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, told reporters.



In August, the agency put the estimated cost of the mpox response at $245 million and said that it had secured only about $20 million. Kaseya did not say why the cost, which excludes the cost of vaccines, had increased.



Kaseya said funding could come from African Union countries, development partners, philanthropies and the private sector.



He said that international vaccine alliance GAVI had pledged assistance and Africa CDC was in discussions with The Pandemic Fund, a multilateral organisation that funds pandemic response.



Kaseya said that a transfer of technology to the continent would reduce the price of vaccines by 80%-90%.



Africa CDC said last month that talks had started with Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic BAVA.CO to manufacture its mpox vaccine in Africa, which Kaseya said would help make the vaccine affordable for African countries.



Kaseya will announce the amount raised at the U.N. General Assembly in New York this month.



Africa has seen over 26,000 suspected mpox cases including 724 deaths so far this year, Africa CDC data showed.



In Democratic Republic of Congo, children under 15 years account for about 60% of suspected cases and 80% of deaths this year, UNICEF said in a statement on Thursday.



(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

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Africa CDC confident it can raise $600 million for mpox response

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OV2PC52TJZNG5PW4JK4QPO2EU4-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-524908" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OV2PC52TJZNG5PW4JK4QPO2EU4-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OV2PC52TJZNG5PW4JK4QPO2EU4-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OV2PC52TJZNG5PW4JK4QPO2EU4-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OV2PC52TJZNG5PW4JK4QPO2EU4-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OV2PC52TJZNG5PW4JK4QPO2EU4-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/OV2PC52TJZNG5PW4JK4QPO2EU4-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) headquarters in White Oak, Maryland, U.S., August 29, 2020. REUTERS/Andrew Kelly</figcaption></figure>



Aug 29 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved expanded use of Emergent BioSolutions&#8217;&nbsp;EBS.N&nbsp;ACAM2000 smallpox vaccine to include people at high risk for mpox infection, the company said on Thursday.



Earlier this month, the World Health Organization declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the virus, known as clade Ib, spread rapidly in Africa.



The FDA&#8217;s approval follows Emergent&#8217;s application for an Emergency Use Listing of ACAM2000 vaccine with the WHO.



Emergent last week said it would donate 50,000 doses of its smallpox vaccine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other impacted countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda to address the mpox outbreak.



According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ACAM2000 has more known side effects and risks than Danish biotech Bavarian Nordic A/S&#8217;s&nbsp;BAVA.CO&nbsp;Jynneos vaccine, which is approved in the United States for both smallpox and mpox.



ACAM2000 &#8211; a live, replicating virus vaccine &#8211; is known to cause myocarditis/pericarditis &#8211; swelling in or around the heart muscle &#8211; in 1 in 175 new ACAM2000 vaccine recipients, according to the FDA.



(Reporting by Shivani Tanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel and Subhranshu Sahu)

FILE PHOTO: Signage is seen outside of FDA headquarters in White Oak, Maryland

US FDA approves Emergent’s smallpox vaccine for people at high risk of mpox

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="551" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6FLFWUCIF5LRNMN67A7VWEWMLE-820x551.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-523935" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6FLFWUCIF5LRNMN67A7VWEWMLE-820x551.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6FLFWUCIF5LRNMN67A7VWEWMLE-300x202.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6FLFWUCIF5LRNMN67A7VWEWMLE-134x90.jpg 134w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6FLFWUCIF5LRNMN67A7VWEWMLE-768x516.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6FLFWUCIF5LRNMN67A7VWEWMLE-1536x1033.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/6FLFWUCIF5LRNMN67A7VWEWMLE-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Internally displaced women listen to Nathalie Kipenzi, a hygiene promoter, during an awareness campaign for Mpox, an infectious disease caused by the Mpox virus that causes a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever, at the Muja camp for the internally displaced in Nyiragongo territory, near Goma in North Kivu province of the Democratic Republic of Congo August 19, 2024. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



MADRID, Aug 27 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Spain will donate 500,000&nbsp;doses of the mpox&nbsp;vaccine,&nbsp;or 20% of its stockpile,&nbsp;to combat an outbreak of the disease in Africa, the Health Ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.



It added that the country had urged the European Commission to propose that all EU member states donate 20% of their respective stock of the vaccine.



&#8220;It makes no sense to stockpile vaccines where there is no problem, and now is the time to prove it,&#8221; the ministry said. Spain&#8217;s donation consists of 100,000 vials, enough to provide 500,000 doses.



The World Health Organization has declared mpox a global public health emergency, after an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo spread to neighbouring countries and a new form of the virus, clade Ib, triggered concerns about the speed of transmission.



Last week, Health Minister Monica Garcia said Spain had &#8220;a very good stock&#8221; of the vaccines. Spain has registered 268 cases of the old strain so far this year, well below 7,500 cases recorded in a global outbreak of 2022. About 40,000 people have taken the vaccine so far.



(Reporting by Emma Pinedo, editing by Andrei Khalip)

FILE PHOTO: Why mpox vaccines, in use since 2022, are only just arriving in Africa

Spain to donate 500,000 mpox vaccine doses to combat outbreak in Africa

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="548" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZILEI7OOWJMNBPRS4CLCVLYX3I-820x548.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-523903" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZILEI7OOWJMNBPRS4CLCVLYX3I-820x548.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZILEI7OOWJMNBPRS4CLCVLYX3I-300x201.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZILEI7OOWJMNBPRS4CLCVLYX3I-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZILEI7OOWJMNBPRS4CLCVLYX3I-768x513.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZILEI7OOWJMNBPRS4CLCVLYX3I-1536x1027.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/ZILEI7OOWJMNBPRS4CLCVLYX3I-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: A test tube labelled &#8220;Mpox virus positive&#8221; is held in this illustration taken August 20, 2024. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON/CHICAGO, Aug 27 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Scientists studying the new mpox strain that has spread out of Democratic Republic of Congo say the virus is changing faster than expected, and often in areas where experts lack the funding and equipment to properly track it.



That means there are&nbsp;numerous&nbsp;unknowns about the virus itself, its severity and how it is transmitting, complicating the response, half a dozen scientists in Africa, Europe and the United States told Reuters.



Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, has been a public health problem in parts of Africa since 1970, but received little global attention until it surged internationally in 2022, prompting the World Health Organization to declare a global health emergency. That declaration ended 10 months later.



A new strain of the virus, known as clade Ib, has the world&#8217;s attention again after the WHO declared a new health emergency.



The strain is a mutated version of clade I, a form of mpox spread by contact with infected animals that has been endemic in Congo for decades. Mpox typically causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions and can kill.



Congo has had more than 18,000 suspected clade I and clade Ib mpox cases and 615 deaths this year, according to the WHO. There have also been 222 confirmed clade Ib cases in four African countries in the last month, plus a case each in Sweden and Thailand in people with a travel history in Africa.



&#8220;I worry that in Africa, we are working blindly,&#8221;&nbsp;said Dr. Dimie Ogoina, an infectious diseases expert at Niger Delta University Hospital in Nigeria who chairs the&nbsp;WHO&#8217;s&nbsp;mpox emergency committee. He first raised the alarm about potential sexual transmission of mpox in 2017, now an accepted route of spread for the virus.



&#8220;We don’t understand our outbreak very well, and if we&nbsp;don&#8217;t&nbsp;understand our outbreak very well we will have difficulty addressing the problem in terms of transmission dynamics, the severity of the disease, risk factors of the disease,&#8221;&nbsp;Ogoina said. &#8220;And I worry about the fact that the virus seems to be mutating and producing new strains.&#8221;



He said it took clade IIb in Nigeria five years or more to evolve enough for sustained spread among humans, sparking the 2022 global outbreak. Clade Ib has done the same thing in less than a year.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-mutating-more-rapidly">MUTATING &#8216;MORE RAPIDLY&#8217;</h2>



Mpox is an orthopoxvirus, from the family that causes smallpox. Population-wide protection from a global smallpox vaccine campaign 50 years ago has waned, as the vaccinating stopped when the disease was eradicated.



Genetic sequencing of clade Ib infections, which the WHO estimates emerged mid-September 2023, show they carry a mutation known as APOBEC3, a signature of adaptation in humans.



The virus that causes mpox has typically been fairly stable and slow to mutate, but APOBEC-driven mutations can accelerate viral evolution, said Dr. Miguel Paredes, who is studying the evolution of mpox and other viruses at Fred Hutchison Cancer Center in Seattle.



&#8220;All the human-to-human cases of mpox have this APOBEC signature of mutations, which means that it&#8217;s mutating a little bit more rapidly than we would expect,&#8221; he said.



Paredes and other scientists said a response was complicated by several mpox outbreaks happening at once.



In the past, mpox was predominantly acquired through human contact with infected animals. That is still driving a rise in Congo in clade I cases – also known as clade Ia &#8211; likely due in part to deforestation and increased consumption of bushmeat, scientists said.



The mutated versions, clade Ib and IIb, can now essentially be considered a sexually transmitted disease, said Dr. Salim Abdool Karim, a South African epidemiologist and chair of the Africa CDC’s mpox advisory committee. Most of the mutated clade Ib cases are among adults, driven at first by an epidemic among female sex workers in South Kivu, Congo.



The virus also can spread through close contact with an infected person, which is likely how clusters of children have been infected with clade Ib, particularly in Burundi and in eastern Congo’s displacement camps, where crowded living conditions may be contributing.



Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems&nbsp;or other illnesses may&nbsp;be at greater risk of serious mpox disease and death,&nbsp;say&nbsp;the WHO&nbsp;and mpox scientists.



Clade I has typically caused more severe disease, with fatality rates of 4%-11%, compared to around 1% for clade II. Ogoina said data from Congo suggests few have died of the new Ib version, but he feared some data is being mixed up.



More research is urgently needed, but three teams tracking mpox outbreaks in Africa say they cannot even access chemicals needed for diagnostic tests.&nbsp;Clade Ib can also be missed by some diagnostic tests.



Planning a response, including vaccination strategies, without this is difficult, the scientists said.



Karim said around half of cases in eastern Congo, where Ib is particularly prevalent, are only being diagnosed by doctors, with no laboratory confirmation.



Getting samples to labs is difficult because the healthcare system is already under pressure, he said. And around 750,000 people have been displaced amid fighting between the M23 rebel group and the government.



Many African laboratories cannot get the supplies they need, said Dr. Emmanuel Nakoune, an mpox expert at the Institut Pasteur in Bangui, Central African Republic, which also has clade Ia cases.



&#8220;This is not a luxury,&#8221;&nbsp;he said, but necessary to track deadly outbreaks.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby in London, Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago and Catherine Schenck in Johannesburg; Editing by Caroline Humer, Bill Berkrot and Gareth Jones)

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows test tubes with “Mpox virus positive” label

New mpox strain is changing fast; African scientists are ‘working blind’ to respond

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="520" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/R7UP5L23DNJNVCR6AXA2NM23QI.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-522413" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/R7UP5L23DNJNVCR6AXA2NM23QI.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/R7UP5L23DNJNVCR6AXA2NM23QI-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/R7UP5L23DNJNVCR6AXA2NM23QI-138x90.jpg 138w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/R7UP5L23DNJNVCR6AXA2NM23QI-768x499.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Dr. Pascaline Kahindo, checks the treatment progress on the feet of patient Ajuamungu Ntuyehe, undergoing the treatment of Mpox &#8211; an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that sparks off a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever; at the treatment centre in Munigi, following Mpox cases in Nyiragongo territory near Goma, North Kivu province, Democratic Republic of the Congo July 19, 2024. REUTERS/Arlette Bashizi/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



BERLIN/BRUSSELS, Aug 23 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The German government is examining whether any available national mpox vaccine doses could be donated, the health ministry said in a status report for August that was seen by Reuters on Friday.



The ministry said it has given its remaining stock of the Jynneos vaccine to the defence ministry and the German army.



The federal government has around 117,000 doses of Jynneos, which is being stockpiled by the German army, after Berlin procured it in 2022, a ministry spokesperson said this week.



International aid measures, such as donations from the European Commission, are underway, though details need to be clarified both in Europe and locally, the ministry added.



The European Union has urged its members to coordinate their donations of mpox vaccines to African countries, rather than do this individually. The European Commission has a joint procurement contract with vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic&nbsp;BAVA.CO, to buy vaccines for donations.



&#8220;European donations will have more immediate impact if they are coordinated,&#8221; EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said in a letter dated Aug. 22 that was addressed to the health ministers of EU countries.



Germany so far has no reported cases of the clade 1 strain of mpox that has triggered global concern due to the ease with which it spreads though routine close contact, it said.



The ministry added that the government was closely monitoring the situation but it did not see an increased risk from clade 1 in Germany, which it assumes could also be contained effectively with the currently available mpox vaccines.



(Reporting by Christian Kraemer and Kate Abnett; Writing by Miranda Murray; Editing by Andrey Sychev and Shounak Dasgupta)

Children at risk as mpox variant hits Congo displacement camps

Germany examining whether any available mpox vaccines could be donated

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="929" height="523" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/108020956-1723732033233-gettyimages-2163386402-941_04_bsip_016707_024-1.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-521657" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/108020956-1723732033233-gettyimages-2163386402-941_04_bsip_016707_024-1.jpeg 929w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/108020956-1723732033233-gettyimages-2163386402-941_04_bsip_016707_024-1-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/108020956-1723732033233-gettyimages-2163386402-941_04_bsip_016707_024-1-820x462.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/108020956-1723732033233-gettyimages-2163386402-941_04_bsip_016707_024-1-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/108020956-1723732033233-gettyimages-2163386402-941_04_bsip_016707_024-1-768x432.jpeg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 929px) 100vw, 929px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Colorized transmission electron micrograph of mpox virus particles (red) found within an infected cell (blue), cultured in the laboratory. Bsip | Universal Images Group | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



An escalating mpox outbreak is causing alarm among some health experts, who warn that the latest strain of the virus could be more fast-spreading and deadly than an early 2022 outbreak.



The World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global public health emergency following the spread of an outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighboring countries.



Since the new outbreak, cases have been identified in countries where mpox is not endemic, such as Sweden, Pakistan and Thailand — although its unclear which strain has been unidentified in some of these nations.



Mpox is a viral infection which spreads through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and lesions filled with pus. While usually mild, it can be fatal.



The WHO’s director for Europe, Dr. Hans Kluge, said Tuesday that the outbreak is “not the new Covid” and that it can be stopped with international cooperation.



But health experts have warned of the “many unknowns” surrounding the latest outbreak — and in particular a new subvariant — which could make it harder to contain.



“Clade 1b has recently emerged and there are many unknowns that need to be addressed,” said Trudie Lang, professor of global health research and director of The Global Health Network at the University of Oxford.



“There is emerging evidence of differences in transmission and symptoms; such as more commonly passed person to person and from mothers to their babies in pregnancy,” she said.



There are broadly two types of of mpox, known as clades, with the latest outbreak identified as clade 1. Compared with the 2022 strain, clade 2, the current strain, appears to spread more easily and has a higher fatality rate.



A newly identified clade 1b subvariant has been found to be particularly prevalent among young people and appears to be spreading through sexual networks, Jonas Albarnaz, a research fellow specializing in poxviruses at The Pirbright Institute, said.



However, he noted more data is needed to understand its transmission dynamics and to “inform the control strategies.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-more-vulnerable-countries">More vulnerable countries</h2>



Clade 1 is already known for causing more severe disease in young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised people. That has hastened the outbreak in countries where certain health conditions are more prevalent and those with poorer health-care systems.



“As mpox disease is more severe in immunocompromised individuals, it is also a concern that the current outbreak is taking place in a region where HIV prevalence is relatively high but access to antiretroviral drugs is poor,” said Brian Ferguson, associate professor of immunology at the University of Cambridge.



Ongoing conflicts in parts of Africa — such as the DRC, where a large number of displaced people have relocated to refugee camps — have also worsened sanitation conditions and accelerated the spread.



So far this year, more than 15,000 cases and at least 537 deaths have been reported from the outbreak in the DRC, according to the WHO, with more cases reported elsewhere.



Ferguson said that more cases are likely to be identified in the coming days and weeks given the lack of controls in place to prevent the spread from country to country. He also said that lessons had not been learned from the prior outbreak, which was declared a public health emergency in July 2022 before the designation was removed in May 2023.



“The lack of activity in the intervening period has resulted in what could now become a new global outbreak. There should have been a greater effort to produce and distribute vaccines to the affected areas, but this has not happened,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-vaccines-for-younger-people"><a></a>Vaccines for younger people</h2>



Danish biotech firm Bavarian Nordic, one of the only companies with an approved mpox vaccine, said Tuesday that it would decide this week whether to ramp up production of its jab even before having orders lined up, according to Reuters.



That comes after the company on Friday submitted data to the European Union’s drug regulator to extend the use of its mpox vaccine for adolescents.



CEO Paul Chaplin told CNBC at the time that obtaining approval for 12- to 17-year-olds would be crucial in tackling the outbreak of the latest strain of the virus.



“More than 70% of the cases in Africa currently are in people younger than 18, so it’s going to be critical that our vaccine can be used in this younger age group,” he said.

108020956-1723732033233-gettyimages-2163386402-941_04_bsip_016707_024

Why the latest mpox outbreak is raising alarm among health experts

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243387410-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-521108" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243387410-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243387410-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243387410-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243387410-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243387410-1536x1024.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/GettyImages-1243387410-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Medical personnel prepares a syringe with the vaccine against smallpox and monkeypox at Checkpoint Bln in Berlin, Germany on September 16, 2022. (Photo by Emmanuele Contini/NurPhoto via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure>



Aug 19 (Reuters) &#8211; Emergent BioSolutions said on Monday it would donate 50,000 doses of its smallpox vaccine to the Democratic Republic of the Congo and other impacted countries of Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda to address the current mpox outbreak.



The World Health Organization last week declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as a new variant of the virus, known as clade Ib, spread rapidly in Africa. At least one person in Sweden has been confirmed with the infection, marking the first time the new variant has been seen outside of Africa.



Emergent&#8217;s ACAM2000 vaccine, approved for smallpox, has been used as an mpox shot but the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is yet to approve its application for use against the virus.



According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, ACAM2000, a live, replicating virus vaccine, has more known side effects and risks than Danish biotech Bavarian Nordic A/S&#8217;s BAVA.CO Jynneos vaccine, which is approved in the U.S. for both smallpox and mpox.



ACAM2000 is known to cause myocarditis/pericarditis &#8211; swelling in or around the heart muscle &#8211; in 1 in 175 new ACAM2000 vaccine recipients, according to the FDA.



Instead of an injection, the shot is given via a series of small pokes on the skin using a two-pronged needle. The injection site forms a scab, which takes 2-4 weeks to heal. Until the scab falls off, it could spread live virus to other parts of the body or people.



ACAM2000 is not recommended for people with compromised immune systems, such as HIV.



(Reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru and Julie Steenhuysen in Chicago; Editing by Shilpi Majumdar and Stephen Coates)

Vaccine Against Monkeypox In Berlin

Emergent to donate 50,000 vaccine doses to address mpox outbreak in Africa

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/INJ75E5ILVP43B5TB5WUXDQSZ4.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-519697" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/INJ75E5ILVP43B5TB5WUXDQSZ4.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/INJ75E5ILVP43B5TB5WUXDQSZ4-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/INJ75E5ILVP43B5TB5WUXDQSZ4-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/INJ75E5ILVP43B5TB5WUXDQSZ4-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: A man receives a dose of the mpox vaccine at the Edison municipal vaccination centre in Paris, France July 27, 2022. Alain Jocard/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Aug 16 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;More imported cases of a new mpox strain will appear in Europe in the coming weeks but the risk of sustained transmission remains low, the head of Europe&#8217;s disease prevention agency said on Friday.



The agency raised its risk assessment for sporadic cases of mpox clade I in Europe to moderate on Friday. The risk was high for travellers to affected areas in Africa in close contact with people there, and moderate for their contacts.



&#8220;There will be more cases in the coming weeks. That&#8217;s the expectation&#8230; But regarding the risk [for the] general European population, we have to say that our assessment is that the risk is very low at the moment,&#8221; European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control director Pamela Rendi-Wagner said in an interview.



She called for European countries to&nbsp;step up&nbsp;preparedness and raise awareness to prevent further spread.



An outbreak of mpox in Democratic Republic of Congo caused by two different forms of mpox, an endemic form and a new offshoot called clade Ib, has caused global concern after it spread to more countries in Africa.



On Thursday, Sweden became the first country outside Africa to confirm a case of clade Ib. The WHO declared the outbreak a global health emergency on Wednesday.



The European CDC recommended that public health authorities plan and prepare for quick detection of any clade I cases that may reach Europe.



It predicts the impact from this strain of the virus will be low in Europe if proper surveillance and control measures are implemented, using the expertise garnered when another strain of mpox, clade II, spread globally in 2022.



During that emergency, the virus spread mainly among men who had sex with men, and behaviour change as well as vaccines helped bring it under control in Europe.



Mpox is a viral infection that causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and while usually mild, it can be fatal in rare cases. It spreads through close contact, including sexual contact, and clade Ib appears to spread more easily among people than other forms of the virus, although there are many open questions about its severity and transmissibility, Randi-Wagner said.



Anyone with symptoms and travel history or a contact with travel to affected areas in Africa should immediately contact a doctor, she added.



&#8220;Test, test, test, in order to find the suspect cases in Europe as soon as possible and avoid further spreading,&#8221; she said in recommendations to European public health authorities.



(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Angus MacSwan)

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