<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)

A man receives a dose of the mpox vaccine at the Edison municipal vaccination centre in Paris

More imported cases of new mpox strain in Europe expected, public health agency says

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="529" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-518486" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4-300x198.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4-768x508.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Christian Musema, a laboratory nurse, takes a sample from a child declared a suspected case Mpox &#8211; an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that spark-off a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever; at the 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>



LONDON, Aug 16 (Reuters) &#8211; The World Health Organization has declared that an outbreak of mpox, a viral infection that spreads through close contact, represents a global health emergency for the second time in two years.



Here&#8217;s what that means.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-mpox">WHAT IS MPOX?</h2>



Mpox is a viral infection that causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions, and while usually mild, it can kill. Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems, such as those with HIV, are all at higher risk of complications.



The WHO declared the recent outbreak of the disease a public health emergency after a new offshoot of the mpox virus, first identified in Democratic Republic of Congo, began spreading to other neighbouring countries.



Mpox transmits through close physical contact, including sexual contact, but there is no evidence that it spreads easily through the air.



The new offshoot has caused global alarm because it appears to spread more easily between people.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-is-a-global-health-emergency">WHAT IS A GLOBAL HEALTH EMERGENCY?</h2>



A &#8220;public health emergency of international concern&#8221;, or PHEIC, is the WHO&#8217;s highest form of alert. It is announced when diseases are spreading in new or unusual ways, and is aimed at galvanising international co-operation and funding to tackle an outbreak.



The WHO&#8217;s declaration follows a similar label from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention earlier this week.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-why-is-mpox-an-emergency-again">WHY IS MPOX AN EMERGENCY AGAIN?</h2>



Two years ago, the WHO declared mpox was an emergency when a form of the disease, clade IIb, began to spread globally, largely among men who have sex with men.



That outbreak was brought under control after behaviour change and safe sex practices, plus vaccines, helped people at risk protect themselves in many countries.



But mpox has been a public health problem in parts of Africa for decades. The first ever human case was in Congo in 1970, and it has had outbreaks ever since.



The current outbreak, Congo&#8217;s worst ever, has seen 27,000 cases and more than 1,100 deaths since January 2023, largely among children.



Two strains of mpox are now spreading in Congo &#8211; the endemic form of the virus, clade I, and a new offshoot called clade Ib, with the term &#8216;clade&#8217; referring to a form of the virus.



The new offshoot has now moved from eastern Congo to Rwanda, Uganda, Burundi and Kenya.



Sweden reported the first case of the new form, clade Ib, outside Africa on Thursday.



A WHO spokesperson said the case reiterated the need for partnership, and the agency continues to advise against travel restrictions to stop the spread of mpox.



Pakistan on Friday also confirmed a case of the mpox virus in a patient who had returned from a Gulf country, though it was unclear whether it was of the new variant or of the clade that has been spreading globally since 2022.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-what-happens-now">WHAT HAPPENS NOW?</h2>



Scientists hope that the emergency declarations will speed up efforts to get more medical tools and funding to Congo to help the authorities there tackle the outbreak. Better surveillance is needed to study the virus and help stop the spread.



But in 2022, a WHO appeal for $34 million to fight mpox got no take-up from donors, and there was huge inequity in who had access to vaccine doses. African countries had no access to the two shots used in the global outbreak, made by Bavarian Nordic and KM Biologics.



Two years later that remains the case, although there are efforts to change that, the WHO said on Wednesday as it appealed for dose donations from countries with stockpiles.



Africa CDC said it has a plan to secure doses, without elaborating further, but stocks are currently limited.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-worried-should-i-be">HOW WORRIED SHOULD I BE?</h2>



Fatality rates vary, and depend heavily on the healthcare available to the sickest patients. In Congo in this outbreak, the rate across both clade I and clade Ib has been around 4%. Clade II, which spread globally, was much less deadly.



However, mpox is not COVID-19. There are tools that are proven to work to stop the spread and help those at risk, and it does not spread as easily.



The challenge now, which the emergency declarations aim to highlight, is making sure those tools reach those who need them most, in Congo and neighbouring countries.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Crispian Balmer and Jan Harvey)

Children at risk as mpox variant hits Congo displacement camps

Why is mpox an emergency again, and how worried should I be?

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="519" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/UMBTJI4JKVLT5FGG6KDRNAJQHE.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-518733" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/UMBTJI4JKVLT5FGG6KDRNAJQHE.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/UMBTJI4JKVLT5FGG6KDRNAJQHE-300x195.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/UMBTJI4JKVLT5FGG6KDRNAJQHE-139x90.jpg 139w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/UMBTJI4JKVLT5FGG6KDRNAJQHE-768x498.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Dr. Tresor Wakilongo, verifies the evolution of skin lesions on the ear of Innocent, suffering from 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>



LONDON, Aug 14 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Vaccines to help curb an escalating mpox outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo and neighbouring countries may still not reach the central African country for months even as the World Health Organization considers following Africa’s top public health agency in declaring the outbreak an emergency.



On Tuesday, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared a public health emergency of continental concern for the first time ever, and on Wednesday, a WHO-led panel meets to decide if it represents a global threat.



But while experts hoped the meetings would galvanise action worldwide, many obstacles remain, including limited vaccine supply, funding and competing disease outbreaks.



“It is important to declare an emergency because the disease is spreading,” said Jean-Jacques Muyembe-Tamfum, head of Congo’s Institut National pour la Recherche Biomedicale (INRB). He said he hoped any declaration would help provide more funding for surveillance as well as supporting access to vaccines in Congo.



But he acknowledged the road ahead was not easy in a huge country where health facilities and humanitarian funds are already stretched by conflict and outbreaks of diseases like measles and cholera.



“If the big declarations remain just words, it won’t make any material difference,” said Emmanuel Nakoune, an mpox expert at the Institut Pasteur de Bangui in Central African Republic.



Africa CDC said last week it had been granted $10.4 million in emergency funding from the Africa Union for its mpox response, and its director general Jean Kaseya said on Tuesday there was a clear plan to secure 3 million doses of vaccine this year, without elaborating further.



However, sources involved in planning a vaccination roll-out in Congo said only 65,000 doses were likely to be available in the short-term, and campaigns were unlikely to begin before October at the earliest.



There have been more than 15,000 suspected cases of mpox in Africa this year and 461 deaths, mainly among children in Congo, according to Africa CDC. The viral infection is usually mild but can kill, and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions.



A new offshoot of the virus has caused outbreaks in refugee camps in the east of Congo this year, and spread to Uganda, Burundi, Rwanda and Kenya for the first time.



Ivory Coast and South Africa are also experiencing outbreaks linked to a different strain of the virus, which spread globally in 2022, largely among men who have sex with men. This outbreak prompted WHO to declare a global emergency before ending it 10 months later.



Then, two vaccines were used &#8211; Bavarian Nordic’s Jynneos, and LC16, made by KM Biologics. Outside clinical trials, neither has ever been available in Congo or across Africa, where the disease has been endemic for decades. Only LC16 is approved for use in children.



Congo&#8217;s regulators approved the use of the vaccines domestically in June, but the government is yet to officially request any from either the manufacturers or governments like the United States looking to make donations through the global vaccine group, Gavi.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Giles Elgood)

FILE PHOTO: Children at risk as mpox variant hits Congo displacement camps

Mpox vaccines likely months away even as WHO, Africa CDC discuss emergency

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="529" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-518486" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4-300x198.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4-136x90.jpg 136w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/U4ZO2CUGW5IUBMTRVQDPXQQ7R4-768x508.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Christian Musema, a laboratory nurse, takes a sample from a child declared a suspected case Mpox &#8211; an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that spark-off a painful rash, enlarged lymph nodes and fever; at the 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>



Aug 13 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Africa&#8217;s top public health body declared what it termed a &#8220;public health emergency of continental security&#8221; on Tuesday over an outbreak of mpox that spread from the Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring countries.



Mpox is transmitted through close contact and causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions. Most cases are mild but it can kill.



The outbreak in Congo began with the spread of an endemic strain, known as Clade I. But the new variant, known as Clade Ib, appears to spread more easily through routine close contact, particularly among children.



The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) warned last week that the viral infection&#8217;s rate of spread was alarming.



It said that over 15,000 mpox cases and 461 deaths were reported on the continent this year so far, representing a 160% increase from the same period last year.



Mpox has been endemic in parts of Africa for decades after it was first detected in human in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970.



A milder version of the virus spread to over a hundred countries in 2022, largely through sexual contact, prompting the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern, its highest level of alert.



The WHO ended the emergency 10 months later, saying the health crisis had come under control.



(Reporting by Jessica Donati; Editing by Alex Richardson and David Holmes)

Africa public health body declares mpox emergency

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="545" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/QRJNG76WGNK25BYY4MRKJYVD3U-820x545.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-492769" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/QRJNG76WGNK25BYY4MRKJYVD3U-820x545.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/QRJNG76WGNK25BYY4MRKJYVD3U-300x199.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/QRJNG76WGNK25BYY4MRKJYVD3U-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/QRJNG76WGNK25BYY4MRKJYVD3U-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/QRJNG76WGNK25BYY4MRKJYVD3U-1536x1021.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/QRJNG76WGNK25BYY4MRKJYVD3U-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">People wait to get vaccinated against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) amid the outbreak, in Bangkok, Thailand, January 10, 2022. REUTERS/Soe Zeya Tun/ File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, May 31 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The world is unprepared for another health crisis like COVID-19, a leading global health expert has warned, as countries make a last push to agree a way forward for a pandemic treaty amid fears the political climate for agreement could sour.



World Health Organization member states gathered in Geneva on Friday to work out how to continue negotiations about an accord after missing this month’s deadline.



“We only hope that&#8230; (in the) next few months, we don&#8217;t have another pandemic that finds us in a world which is still unprepared for a major crisis,” Muhammad Ali Pate, Nigeria’s health minister and a board member of the Global Fund to Fight Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria, told Reuters.



A major sticking point in the treaty has been provisions for low and middle-income countries to have access to 20% of tests, treatments and vaccines developed to fight the pandemic, either at no-profit costs or donated.



Ali Pate said the figure was reasonable to avoid the scramble for life-saving products that saw African countries last-in-line during COVID.



While talks on the treaty are likely to continue for several months or even years, a parallel process to update an existing set of rules that govern international disease outbreaks are closer to agreement, sources said, and could be signed off before the end of the WHO’s annual meeting on Saturday.



Other negotiators and observers said there was a sense of urgency in the treaty talks, not least because of concerns that elections in a number of key countries this year could bring in right-leaning governments who fear the treaty could threaten their sovereignty, which the WHO denies and a clause in the document guards against.



“This needs to be done now or else things are only going to get worse with things moving to the right,” said one Western diplomat.



(Reporting by Emma Farge and Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Bangkok

World unprepared for another pandemic as WHO treaty talks push on

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="525" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W24QXKQRMVIZVBZNLSSJ7GLVBU-820x525.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-477046" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W24QXKQRMVIZVBZNLSSJ7GLVBU-820x525.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W24QXKQRMVIZVBZNLSSJ7GLVBU-300x192.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W24QXKQRMVIZVBZNLSSJ7GLVBU-141x90.jpg 141w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W24QXKQRMVIZVBZNLSSJ7GLVBU-768x491.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W24QXKQRMVIZVBZNLSSJ7GLVBU-1536x983.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/W24QXKQRMVIZVBZNLSSJ7GLVBU-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Johnson &amp; Johnson is displayed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the company&#8217;s listing at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) in New York, U.S., September 17, 2019. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



Corrects to the Zimbabwean regulator saying it &#8220;did not have a record of&#8221; the syrup being imported into the country instead of that it &#8220;did have a record of&#8221; in penultimate paragraph



KIGALI, April 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Drug regulators in Tanzania, Rwanda and Zimbabwe have recalled a batch of Johnson &amp; Johnson&nbsp;JNJ.N&nbsp;children&#8217;s cough syrup as a precautionary measure after their Nigerian counterpart said laboratory tests found high levels of toxicity.



The countries join Nigeria, Kenya and South Africa in recalling the same batch of the syrup, which is used to treat coughs, hay fever and other allergic reactions in children. South Africa has also recalled an additional batch.



Laboratory tests on the syrup by Nigeria&#8217;s health regulator showed a high level of diethylene glycol, which has been linked to the deaths of dozens of children in Gambia, Uzbekistan and Cameroon since 2022 in one of the world&#8217;s worst waves of poisoning from oral medication.



Diethylene glycol is toxic to humans when consumed and can result in acute kidney failure.



The batch of Benylin Paediatric syrup recalled was made by J&amp;J in South Africa in May 2021, although Kenvue&nbsp;KVUE.N&nbsp;now owns the brand after a spin-off from J&amp;J last year.



Tanzania Medicines and Medical Devices Authority (TMDA) said it had begun the recall on April 12 after hearing about the Nigerian test results.



&#8220;This is an exercise that does not involve investigation but rather monitoring to ensure that those affected drugs are removed from the market,&#8221; TMDA spokesperson Gaudensia Simwanza told Reuters on Monday.



A spokesperson for Kenya&#8217;s drug regulator said its test results on the syrup would likely be ready on Wednesday.



&#8220;A review of our safety database doesn&#8217;t reveal any adverse events reported,&#8221; the Rwanda Food and Drugs Authority said in a statement dated April 12. &#8220;However, Rwanda FDA issues the present recall for precautionary measures.&#8221;



Zimbabwe&#8217;s Medicines Control Agency said that it did&nbsp;not&nbsp;have a record of the product&#8217;s importation into Zimbabwe, but that it was concerned the syrup could enter the local market illegally. It said it would step up inspections in case.



Kenvue said in a statement that it was conducting its own assessment and working with health authorities to determine a course of action.



(Reporting by Philbert Girinema, Nuzulack Dausen and Nyasha Chingono; Additional reporting by Aaron Ross; Writing by Bhargav Acharya; Editing by Hereward Holland, Susan Fenton and Alexander Smith and Aurora Ellis)

FILE PHOTO: The company logo for Johnson & Johnson is displayed to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the company’s listing at the NYSE in New York

Tanzania, Rwanda, Zimbabwe join African recall of J&J cough syrup

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="584" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LACEOVHUDBPFZHOQM2PAMVP56Q-820x584.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-433987" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LACEOVHUDBPFZHOQM2PAMVP56Q-820x584.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LACEOVHUDBPFZHOQM2PAMVP56Q-300x214.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LACEOVHUDBPFZHOQM2PAMVP56Q-126x90.jpg 126w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LACEOVHUDBPFZHOQM2PAMVP56Q-768x547.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LACEOVHUDBPFZHOQM2PAMVP56Q-1536x1095.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/12/LACEOVHUDBPFZHOQM2PAMVP56Q-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">FILE PHOTO: Researchers studying the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis test samples in a laboratory run by South African biotech company TASK in Cape Town, South Africa, May 11, 2020. Picture taken May 11, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings//File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, Dec 7 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Up to $1 billion will be available to boost African vaccine manufacturing as part of a new scheme set up by Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, the global health organisation said on Thursday.



The “African Vaccine Manufacturing Accelerator” aims to address the inequality in access to vaccines that plagued the continent during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as to use domestically-produced shots to tackle diseases that kill hundreds of thousands of African children every year, such as cholera and malaria.



The African Union (AU) has set a target for the African vaccine manufacturing industry to supply over 60% of the total vaccine doses required on the continent by 2040, up from around 1% now. A host of initiatives have been launched across the continent since COVID-19, but some have struggled amid high start-up costs, particularly as demand waned as the pandemic receded.



The funding for the accelerator comes from leftover money in the COVAX initiative, a scheme set up during the pandemic to help vaccines reach the world’s poorest countries. It has been approved by Gavi&#8217;s board after consultation with the AU, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and other partners. The scheme is due to launch in June 2024 at an event hosted by the Africa CDC and France.



“The big aim here is to have a pot of money set aside for a ten year period to enable a sustainable African vaccine industry to be produced,” said David Kinder, Gavi’s director of development finance, in an interview.



At the same Gavi meeting in Accra, Ghana, the board also approved plans for around $290 million to help &#8220;catch up&#8221; routine immunisations for children, which were hit hard by pandemic-related disruptions, as well as a $500 million &#8220;first response&#8221; fund, to ensure money is available immediately when a new pandemic hits.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-how-it-works">HOW IT WORKS</h2>



The African accelerator will pay manufacturers a sum when their vaccines are approved by the World Health Organization. It will provide another payment if companies win bids to supply vaccines through Gavi, which co-finances purchases with low-income countries.



This will allow manufacturers to price products competitively, Kinder said, so African countries can choose African-made vaccines for the price of products made elsewhere.



The initiative focuses on diseases, including cholera, plus new technologies like viral vector and mRNA vaccines, which were transformative during COVID-19 and could help in future pandemics, Kinder added.



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Aurora Ellis)

FILE PHOTO: Researchers studying the BCG vaccine for tuberculosis test samples in a laboratory run by South African biotech company TASK in Cape Town, South Africa, May 11, 2020. Picture taken May 11, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings/

New $1 billion plan for African vaccine manufacturing -GAVI Alliance

In a recent interview with CNBC Africa, Dr. Ines Hassan, Director at the Global Health Security Consortium, discussed the importance of advancing health financing mechanisms for Africa. The Consortium, based at the Tony Blair Institute for Global Change, is focused on driving deliberate change to improve the continent&#8217;s readiness for pandemics.



According to Dr. Hassan, the Consortium was formed in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the realization of the inequities in access to medicines that it exposed. The organization seeks to address these issues by promoting local manufacturing, increasing the number of healthcare workers, fostering innovation, and strengthening regional and global health security.



The Consortium&#8217;s primary focus is on what they call the &#8220;Always On Agenda.&#8221; This approach aims to improve health systems today while also preparing for future pandemics. By investing in specific parts of the health system that serve the prevention agenda, such as access to vaccinations and long-acting injectables for non-communicable diseases, countries can strengthen their overall health systems and be better prepared for future emergencies.



Dr. Hassan highlighted the importance of viewing health and the economy as interconnected. The Consortium believes that by investing in prevention measures now, countries can mitigate the economic impacts of future pandemics. They advocate for longer-term fiscal planning that takes into account the benefits of prevention measures, such as improved population health and workforce productivity.



While the Consortium&#8217;s focus is global, Dr. Hassan emphasized the importance of addressing these issues in Africa. The continent has faced significant challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic, and investing in health security is essential for national and global security. Viruses know no borders, and if one country is unprepared, it poses a risk to all.



The Consortium believes that Africa, like other regions, should prioritize prevention measures rather than waiting for a pandemic to strike before responding. This includes pathogen surveillance to identify circulating viruses, boosting clinical research capacity, and building strong health systems that can respond effectively to emergencies.



Advancing health financing mechanisms for Africa is crucial for the continent&#8217;s readiness for future pandemics. The Global Health Security Consortium, through its &#8220;Always On Agenda,&#8221; seeks to improve population health today and strengthen health systems for future emergencies. By investing in prevention measures and viewing health and the economy as interconnected, countries can mitigate the impact of pandemics and ensure national and global security.

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Advancing Health Financing Mechanisms for Africa

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="547" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1365582823-1-820x547.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-422254" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1365582823-1-820x547.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1365582823-1-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1365582823-1-135x90.jpg 135w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1365582823-1-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1365582823-1-1536x1025.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/01/GettyImages-1365582823-1-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">Two doctors in hospital hallway discussing electronic patient record &#8211; stock photo</figcaption></figure>



Geneva, Switzerland, 9 January 2023 – The shortage of healthcare workers could rise to 10 million by the end of the decade, affecting access to care, inequities and treatment of mental health. A new report published by the World Economic Forum, <a href="https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-health-and-healthcare-strategic-outlook-shaping-the-future-of-health-and-healthcare">Global Health and Healthcare Strategic Outlook</a>, offers business and policy-makers a blueprint for more sustainable, resilient healthcare systems rather than accepting trade-offs of efficiency over social fairness.



Launched in the run-up to the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2023 in Davos-Klosters, the report presents case studies in four areas that can drive change: equitable access and outcomes; healthcare systems transformation; technology and innovation; and environmental&nbsp;sustainability.



“The pandemic brought remarkable progress for development and delivery of medicines. We now need to focus on long-term system change to stop health services deteriorating in the face of economic crises. Businesses and policy-makers must think beyond false trade-offs of efficiency over social fairness and harness the power of public-private partnerships and outcomes-based regulation to drive healthy equity by the end of the decade,” said Shyam Bishen, Head of Health &amp; Healthcare, World Economic Forum.



The Annual Meeting will convene more than 2,700 leaders from business, government and civil society. Leaders from healthcare organizations will focus on driving public-private partnerships for better health outcomes.



The report, prepared with L.E.K. Consulting, highlights the pandemic’s disruptions such as a 25% drop in coverage of essential health services. This resulted in compound impacts on vulnerable populations and minority communities, especially in low- and middle-income countries. More specifically, COVID-19 put extra strain on healthcare systems, disrupted global supply chains of essential products and pushed overburdened care providers to breaking point.



“The threat of violence and burnout are real and is one of the contributors as to why doctors are considering other professions,” said Kashish Malhotra, Physician, Department of Internal Medicine, Dayanand Medical College and Hospital, North India



To improve access and narrow the global health disparity gap, the report urged healthcare leaders to allocate funds disproportionately towards alternative care models and to include more representative clinical trials across low- to middle-income countries.



As healthcare systems seek to adapt and evolve, innovations frequently outpace regulatory change. On top of this, public regulations vary by jurisdiction and the lack of common standards across the global industry erodes trust, inhibits reimbursements and slows the sector’s return to pre-pandemic stability. Meanwhile, the private sector is stymied by fragile and disrupted supply chains, while a go-it-alone business mindset further slows healthcare’s systemic transformation.



“Too often we see many companies trying to find the path through the forest themselves and each of them getting lost and not learning from one another,” saidJeff Allen, Chief Executive Officer, Friends of Cancer Research. “Public-private partnerships help bridge this divide to find solutions to common problems in a shorter time.” Service delivery value is worth more than volume, the report argues. To incorporate prevention, healthcare policy should be linked to consistent and measurable outcomes since what is efficient is not always what is most effective.



On partnerships for innovation, the pandemic accelerated a technological tipping point in digital health and telemedicine. This can be expanded to other areas of healthcare. With a Wi-Fi signal and better digital access, a rural patient can consult with a health worker from a nearby city or halfway around the world. “People want on-demand healthcare,” said Jisella Veath Dolan, Chief Global Advocacy Officer, Honor + Home Instead. “We want greater accessibility to real-time answers.”



Remote care empowers both patient and worker. It improves convenience, adherence and access to information across geographies. By reducing the need for traditional infrastructure, costs per patient fall. And telehealth goes beyond online consultation. Artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics further support clinical decisions, home diagnostics, home-administered drug delivery systems and patient monitoring devices. By harmonizing data use, Dolan said, “physicians are building better relationships with patients through telehealth and we are seeing greater uptick in usage by older adults.” The pandemic demanded emergency responses. However, according to the new report, medical triumphs are too often reactive “cures” to the communicative zoonotic diseases that could have been prevented at far lower costs. To preserve health and save lives, a higher return on investment comes from clean air, safe water and healthy biodiversity. &nbsp;

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‘Patient-First’ Tech Innovations Can Boost Healthcare Access, Tackle Workforce Shortages and Burnout 

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="728" height="485" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/67KF5BYCQZNUFLTWJTVK2NRPLE.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-419886" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/67KF5BYCQZNUFLTWJTVK2NRPLE.jpg 728w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/67KF5BYCQZNUFLTWJTVK2NRPLE-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/67KF5BYCQZNUFLTWJTVK2NRPLE-135x90.jpg 135w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /><figcaption>A man receives a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine at Wuse market in Abuja, Nigeria January 26, 2022. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, Sept 15 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The COVID-19 pandemic is still a threat on the African continent given low vaccination rates, the acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention&nbsp;(Africa CDC)&nbsp;said on Thursday.



&#8220;The virus is still circulating, and with the low rates of vaccination the pandemic is still very much with us here on the continent,&#8221; Ahmed Ogwell Ouma told a news conference.



He was responding to a question about whether he agreed with comments by the head of the World Health Organization&nbsp;Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus&nbsp;that the end of the COVID pandemic was now in sight.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL4N30L2YV&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



The Africa CDC director said just over 22% of Africa&#8217;s population was fully vaccinated against COVID and that his agency would continue pushing to raise that number. &#8220;The levels of protection are still relatively low,&#8221; he told reporters.



African countries struggled to secure early supplies of COVID vaccines as rich nations hoarded doses, and more recently hesitancy and logistics problems have made it difficult to get shots into arms.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2XP1TZ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Ouma said the Africa CDC was focusing on getting as many people on the continent as possible fully vaccinated, not on procuring new vaccines targeting specific variants like Omicron.



(Reporting by Alexander Winning and Anait Miridzhanian; Editing by James Macharia Chege)

A man receives a COVID-19 vaccine at Wuse market, in Abuja

Africa CDC head: COVID still a threat given low vaccination rates

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="800" height="533" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/800px-Logo_of_the_World_Health_Organization.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-402524" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/800px-Logo_of_the_World_Health_Organization.jpg 800w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/800px-Logo_of_the_World_Health_Organization-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/800px-Logo_of_the_World_Health_Organization-768x512.jpg 768w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px" /></figure>



July 27 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The World Health Organization has confirmed&nbsp;two more cases&nbsp;of Marburg virus in Ghana, a senior&nbsp;WHO official&nbsp;said on Wednesday, two weeks after the country reported its&nbsp;first outbreak&nbsp;of the highly infectious Ebola-like disease.



Those first two cases, in southern Ghana&#8217;s Ashanti region, both had symptoms including diarrhoea, fever, nausea and vomiting, before dying in hospital, the WHO said previously.



&#8220;We have two additional cases,&#8221; doctor Ibrahima Soce Fall told journalists on Wednesday.



The outbreak is only the second in West Africa. The first ever case of the virus in the region was detected last year in Guinea.



Soce Fall said information received from Ghana suggested there were around 180 contacts being followed up and WHO teams were making sure that none were missed.



The virus is transmitted to people from fruit bats and spreads among humans through direct contact with bodily fluids, surfaces and materials, the WHO said.



Soce Fall said the cases had been reported in three different regions in Ghana, creating a &#8220;very difficult&#8221; situation.



&#8220;Although the cases are not high at the moment, &#8230;we need to make sure that every hotspot can be stopped otherwise it will become more complex,&#8221; he said.



(Reporting by Wendell Roelf and Jennifer Rigby; editing by John Stonestreet)

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WHO confirms two more Marburg virus cases in Ghana, says official

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107064993-gettyimages-1240797858-PGONCHAR_8296.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-418688" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107064993-gettyimages-1240797858-PGONCHAR_8296.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107064993-gettyimages-1240797858-PGONCHAR_8296-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/107064993-gettyimages-1240797858-PGONCHAR_8296-160x90.jpeg 160w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>Pavlo Gonchar | Lightrocket | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The World Health Organization has activated its highest alert level for the growing monkeypox outbreak, declaring the virus a public health emergency of international concern.



The rare designation means the WHO now views the outbreak as a significant enough threat to global health that a coordinated international response is needed to prevent the virus from spreading further and potentially escalating into a pandemic.



Although the declaration does not impose requirements on national governments, it serves as an urgent call for action. The WHO can only issue guidance and recommendations to its member states, not mandates. Member states are required to report events that pose a threat to global health.



The U.N. agency declined last month to declare a global emergency in response to monkeypox. But infections have increased substantially over the past several weeks, pushing WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to issue the highest alert.



Before a global health emergency is declared, the WHO’s emergency committee meets to weigh the evidence and make a recommendation to the director general. The committee was unable to reach a consensus on whether monkeypox constitutes an emergency. Tedros, as the WHO’s chief, made the decision to issue the highest alert based on the rapid spread of the outbreak around the world.



“We have an outbreak that has spread around the world rapidly, through new modes of transmission, about which we understand too little,” Tedros said. “For all of these reasons, I have decided that the global monkeypox outbreak represents a public health emergency of international concern.”&nbsp;



More than 16,000 cases of monkeypox have been reported across more than 70 countries so far this year, and the number of confirmed infections rose 77% from late June through early July, according to WHO data. Men who have sex with men are currently at highest risk of infection.



Five deaths from the virus have been reported in Africa this year. No deaths have been reported outside Africa so far.



Most people are recovering from monkeypox in two to four weeks, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The virus causes a rash that can spread over the body. People who have caught the virus said the rash, which looks like pimples or blisters, can be very painful.



The current monkeypox outbreak is highly unusual because it is spreading widely in North American and European nations where the virus is not usually found. Historically, monkeypox has spread at low levels in remote parts of West and Central Africa where rodents and other animals carried the virus.



Europe is currently the global epicenter of the outbreak, reporting more than 80% of confirmed infections worldwide in 2022. The U.S. has reported more than 2,500 monkeypox cases so far across 44 states, Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico.



Tedros said the risk posed by monkeypox is moderate globally, but the threat is high in Europe. There’s clearly a risk that the virus will continue to spread around the world, he said, though it’s unlikely to disrupt global trade or travel right now.



In early May, the United Kingdom reported a case of monkeypox in a person who recently returned from travel to Nigeria. Several days later, the U.K. reported three more cases of monkeypox in people who appeared to have become infected locally. Other European nations, Canada and the U.S. then also began confirming cases. It’s unclear where the outbreak actually began.



The WHO last issued a global health emergency in January 2020 in response to the Covid-19 outbreak and two months later declared it a pandemic. The WHO has no official process to declare a pandemic under its organizational laws, which means the term is loosely defined. In 2020, the agency declared Covid a pandemic in an effort to warn complacent governments about the “alarming levels of spread and severity” of the virus.



The WHO’s lead expert on monkeypox, Dr. Rosamund Lewis, told reporters in May that the U.N. health agency was not concerned about monkeypox causing a global pandemic. She said public health authorities had a window of opportunity to contain the outbreak.



But infectious disease experts are concerned that health authorities have failed to contain the outbreak, and monkeypox will permanently take root in countries where the virus wasn’t previously found with the exception of isolated cases linked to travel.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-monkeypox-is-not-a-new-virus"><a></a>Monkeypox is not a new virus</h2>



In contrast to Covid-19, monkeypox is not a new virus. Scientists first discovered monkeypox in 1958 in captive monkeys used for research in Denmark, and confirmed the first case of a human infected with the virus in 1970 in the nation of Zaire, now called the Democratic Republic of the Congo.



Monkeypox is in the same virus family as smallpox, though it causes milder disease. The WHO and national health agencies have decades of experience fighting smallpox, which was declared eradicated in 1980. The successful fight against smallpox, and the tools developed against it, will provide health officials with important knowledge to combat monkeypox.



Transmission of monkeypox between people was relatively rare in the past, and the virus normally jumped from animals to humans. But monkeypox is now spreading more efficiently between people. The WHO has said the international community did not invest enough resources in fighting monkeypox in Africa before the global outbreak.



“This transmission has been occurring in African countries in two particular zones over a large number of years, and we don’t fully understand what’s driving transmission in those countries,” said Dr. Mike Ryan, head of the WHO’s health emergencies program, earlier this week. “There’s a lot more investigation to do and a lot more investment to make in understanding that problem.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Gay, bisexual men at highest risk</h2>



Monkeypox is primarily spreading through skin-to-skin contact during sex. Men who have sex with men are at the highest risk right now, as the majority of transmission has occurred in the gay community. However, the WHO and the CDC have emphasized that anyone can catch monkeypox regardless of sexual orientation.



Scientists in Spain and Italy detected monkeypox virus DNA in semen from positive patients, though it’s still unclear whether whether the virus can spread through semen during sex. The Spanish scientists also detected monkeypox DNA in saliva samples.



It’s also unclear whether the virus can spread when people are infected but don’t have symptoms, known as asymptomatic transmission.



Lewis, the WHO’s monkeypox expert, said 99% of cases reported outside Africa are among men and 98% of infections are among men who have sex with men, primarily those who have had multiple, recent anonymous or new sexual partners. The virus has been detected outside the gay community, but transmission has been low so far. The CDC confirmed monkeypox in two children on Friday.



The WHO and CDC have repeatedly warned against stigmatizing gay and bisexual men, while at the same time stressing the importance of communicating the reality of how the virus is currently spreading so people in communities at highest risk can take action to protect their health.



“People want the information to know how to protect themselves, in what circumstances are people perhaps at risk or getting infected,” Lewis said earlier this week. It’s crucial for health agencies and community organizers to broadly disseminate information on how to reduce the risk of infection ahead of major celebrations and festivals this summer, she said.



Tedros warned stigma and discrimination are violations of human rights that will undermine the public health response to the outbreak. He called on national governments to protect individuals’ fundamental rights as they respond to the virus.



“We seek your strong commitment to uphold human dignity, human rights so that we can control this outbreak,” Tedros said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Symptoms and risk factors</h2>



The U.S. CDC recommends that people avoid intimate physical contact with individuals who have a rash that looks like monkeypox, and consider minimizing sex with multiple or anonymous partners. People should also consider avoiding sex parties or other events where people aren’t wearing a lot of clothing.



Individuals who do decide to have sex with a partner who has monkeypox should follow CDC guidance on lowering their risk, according to the health agency.



In the past, monkeypox normally began with symptoms similar to the flu, including fever, headache, muscle aches, chills, exhaustion and swollen lymph nodes. The disease then progressed into a rash that can spread over the body. Patients are considered most infectious when the rash develops.



But in the current outbreak the symptoms have been atypical. Some people are developing a rash first, while others are showing a rash without any flu-like symptoms at all. Many patients have developed a localized rash on their genitals and anus.



The CDC and WHO have said the rash is easily confused with common sexually transmitted diseases. They have told health care providers that they should not rule out monkeypox simply because a patient tests positive for a sexually transmitted disease.



Although monkeypox can spread through respiratory droplets, that method requires prolonged face-to-face interaction, according to the CDC. Health officials do not believe monkeypox is spreading through small aerosol particles like Covid. Respiratory droplets are heavier so they do not stay airborne for as long, while Covid is an airborne virus, which is one of the reasons it’s so contagious.



Monkeypox can also spread through contact with contaminated materials, such as bedsheets and clothing.



“This disease is transmissible, but it’s not that transmissible. It’s a disease in which transmission can be contained,” Ryan said. “Like we said in Covid, don’t be the person to pass this disease on.”



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Vaccines</h2>



Because monkeypox is not a new virus, there are already vaccines and antivirals to prevent and treat the disease it causes, though they are in short supply. The U.S. is already distributing tens of thousands of doses of a vaccine called Jynneos in an effort to quash the outbreak. The Food and Drug Administration approved the two-dose vaccine in 2019 for adults ages 18 and older who are at high risk of monkeypox or smallpox infection.



The Biden administration has distributed more than 300,000 Jynneos doses to states and cities since May and another 786,000 doses are being delivered to the U.S. The Health and Human Services Department has ordered another 5 million doses through 2023.



CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky said the demand for monkeypox vaccines is outstripping the available supply in the U.S., which has led to long lines in places such as New York City — an epicenter of the outbreak.



Jynneos is manufactured by Bavarian Nordic, a biotech company based in Denmark. Right, now Bavarian Nordic has up to 5 million doses available for the rest of the world excluding the U.S., a company spokesperson said. But Bavarian Nordic has the capacity to fill 40 million liquid frozen and 8 million freeze dried doses a year, the spokesperson said.



The U.S. also has more than 100 million doses of an older generation smallpox vaccine called ACAM2000, made by Emergent BioSolutions, that is also likely effective at preventing monkeypox. But ACAM2000 can have serious side effects and is not recommended for people who have weak immune systems, including HIV patients, people who have certain skin conditions and pregnant women.



ACAM2000 uses a mild virus strain in the same family as monkeypox and smallpox to confer immunity. But the mild strain used by the vaccine can replicate, which means people who receive ACAM2000 have to take precautions to make sure they do not give the virus to others or spread a rash from the injection site to other parts of their body. The Jynneos vaccine does not have this risk because it does not use a replicating virus strain.



There is no data yet on the effectiveness of the vaccines against monkeypox in the current outbreak, according to the CDC.



The WHO is not recommending mass vaccination at this time, and the U.S. is currently reserving the vaccines in its stockpile for people who have confirmed or presumed monkeypox exposures. Unlike Covid, vaccines against smallpox and monkeypox can be administered after exposure due to the viruses’ long incubation period. But the vaccines need to be administered within four days of exposure for the best chance of preventing onset of the disease, according to the CDC.

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WHO declares rapidly spreading monkeypox outbreak a global health emergency

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="640" height="360" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/istockphoto-1250489640-640x640-1.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-400524" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/istockphoto-1250489640-640x640-1.jpg 640w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/istockphoto-1250489640-640x640-1-300x169.jpg 300w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px" /><figcaption>World Bank on glass building. Mirrored sky and city modern facade. Global capital, business, finance, economy, banking and money concept seamless and loopable 3D rendering animation.</figcaption></figure>



JOHANNESBURG, July 22 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Africa&#8217;s main public health body, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), will receive $100 million from the World Bank to help African countries prepare for, detect and respond to disease outbreaks.



The Africa CDC has played a major role advising African countries during the COVID-19 pandemic and is also providing guidance on diseases like monkeypox.



The World Bank said in a statement that the financial support would help boost the Africa CDC&#8217;s technical capacity and include investments to increase the number of epidemiologists and outbreak responders.



&#8220;The project will help to cultivate regional capabilities critical to ensuring a resilient and prepared continent. It will do this by helping to build and maintain a robust public health workforce across countries&#8217; health systems,&#8221; the bank said.



The Africa CDC&#8217;s acting director Ahmed Ogwell Ouma said the money had come at a critical time as it was aiming to enhance its support to African countries.



(Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Joe Bavier and Andrew Cawthorne)

istockphoto-1250489640-640×640

Africa’s top public health body gets $100 mln from World Bank

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="728" height="485" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/WISP23EAKBLG5D3IIMVX4GTIGM.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-418581" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/WISP23EAKBLG5D3IIMVX4GTIGM.jpg 728w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/WISP23EAKBLG5D3IIMVX4GTIGM-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/WISP23EAKBLG5D3IIMVX4GTIGM-135x90.jpg 135w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 728px) 100vw, 728px" /><figcaption>A nurse administers the malaria vaccine to an infant at the Lumumba Sub-County hospital in Kisumu, Kenya, July 1, 2022. REUTERS/Baz Ratner/File Photo</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, July 20 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Nine months after the world&#8217;s first malaria vaccine was recommended for use, international vaccine alliance Gavi invited countries to apply for financial support to roll out the jab, particularly targeting young children in Africa.



The World Health Organization endorsed GSK Plc&#8217;s&nbsp;GSK.L&nbsp;four-dose Mosquirix shot in October last year, saying it could save thousands of lives.



Now Gavi, which has $155.7 million available over 2022-2025 for the initial roll-out of the vaccine, has invited countries to apply for funding and support to distribute the shot.



It is a step forward for the vaccine, which has taken decades to develop. Malaria, on average, kills a child every minute.



However the roll-out is expected to start slowly, with supply falling far below the vast demand for several years, a recent Reuters investigation found.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2YP0WT&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Ghana, Kenya and Malawi &#8211; African nations that have been involved in pilot progammes using the vaccine &#8211; can apply first, by September, to broaden their use of the shot. Other countries can apply by the end of this year, Gavi said in a statement.



&#8220;The work towards a malaria vaccine has been long and hard,&#8221; said Seth Berkley, chief executive of Gavi. Alongside the existing interventions like bed nets, Berkley said he hoped that the new tool would now &#8220;allow us to save more lives in countries hit hardest by this killer disease.&#8221;



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Mark Heinrich)

FILE PHOTO: A nurse administers the malaria vaccine to an infant at the Lumumba hospital in Kisumu

Vaccine group invites African states to apply for malaria shot support

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="583" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EO5RIOO7OJOC7GKT6AKI7H5SQ4-820x583.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-418172" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EO5RIOO7OJOC7GKT6AKI7H5SQ4-820x583.jpg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EO5RIOO7OJOC7GKT6AKI7H5SQ4-300x213.jpg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EO5RIOO7OJOC7GKT6AKI7H5SQ4-127x90.jpg 127w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EO5RIOO7OJOC7GKT6AKI7H5SQ4-768x546.jpg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EO5RIOO7OJOC7GKT6AKI7H5SQ4-1536x1092.jpg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/EO5RIOO7OJOC7GKT6AKI7H5SQ4-scaled.jpg 2048w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>FILE PHOTO: Mock-up vials labeled &#8220;Monkeypox vaccine&#8221; and medical syringe are seen in this illustration taken, May 25, 2022. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration</figcaption></figure>



June 30 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;Africa has no vaccines for monkeypox and test kits are in short supply, the acting director of Africa&#8217;s top public health agency said on Thursday.



Monkeypox is a viral disease that causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions. It is endemic in parts of Africa.



More than 40 countries where monkeypox is not endemic have reported outbreaks of the viral disease which spreads through close contact and was first found in monkeys.



&#8220;Both of these tools&#8230; are really required on the continent,&#8221; Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), told a news conference.



&#8220;Monkeypox is an emergency here on the continent and we are calling on all our friends and partners to join us in controlling this outbreak,&#8221; he said.



Ouma also said that at least nine different coronavirus vaccines are in development on the continent.



Monkeypox is not yet a global health emergency, the World Health Organization (WHO) ruled on Saturday, although WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was deeply concerned about the outbreak.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL1N2YC0JV&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Writing by Nellie Peyton; Editing by James Macharia Chege)

FILE PHOTO: Illustration shows mock-up vials labeled “Monkeypox vaccine” and medical syringe

Africa in need of test kits, vaccines for monkeypox – CDC Africa

<figure class="wp-block-image size-full"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="740" height="416" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/106913464-1626783928878-gettyimages-1233680604-AVDjune7.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-410942" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/106913464-1626783928878-gettyimages-1233680604-AVDjune7.jpeg 740w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/106913464-1626783928878-gettyimages-1233680604-AVDjune7-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/106913464-1626783928878-gettyimages-1233680604-AVDjune7-140x80.jpeg 140w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 740px) 100vw, 740px" /><figcaption>In this Photo illustration a World Health Organization(WHO) logo seen displayed on an Android phone.
Avishek Das | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



LONDON, June 23 (Reuters)&nbsp;&#8211;&nbsp;The World Health Organization will decide on Thursday whether to declare monkeypox a global health emergency, stirring criticism from leading African scientists who say it has been a crisis in their region for years.



The deliberations and scrutiny of the WHO&#8217;s response to the outbreak follows concerns over how the United Nations&nbsp;agency and governments worldwide handled COVID-19 in early 2020.



A&nbsp;&#8220;public health emergency of international concern&#8221; is WHO&#8217;s highest level of alert. The agency does not declare pandemics, but it did start using the term to describe COVID-19 in March 2020.



For many governments, that &#8211; rather than WHO&#8217;s earlier declaration of an emergency in January &#8211; was the moment they began to take real action to try to contain COVID, which proved to be too late to make a difference.



Monkeypox does not spread nearly as easily as COVID and there are vaccines and treatments available, unlike for the coronavirus when it emerged. But it has still raised alarm.



The case count from the current outbreak outside of Africa has topped 3,000 in more than 40 countries, according to a Reuters tally &#8211; largely among men who have sex with men &#8211; since it was first reported in May.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2XF1XF&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>&nbsp;There have been no reports of deaths.



The viral disease,&nbsp;which&nbsp;causes flu-like symptoms and skin lesions, is endemic in parts of Africa. The continent has registered just over 1,500 suspected cases since the start of 2022, of which 66 have been fatal, according to official data.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2Y32HZ&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



&#8220;When a disease affects developing countries, it is (apparently) not an emergency. It only becomes an emergency when developed countries are affected,&#8221; said Professor Emmanuel Nakoune, acting director of the Institut Pasteur in Bangui, Central African Republic, who is running a trial of a monkeypox treatment.



Still, Nakoune said that if the WHO declares an emergency in the case of monkeypox, it would still be an important step.



<h3 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-read-more-south-africa-confirms-first-monkeypox-case-not-linked-to-travel">Read more: <a href="https://www.cnbcafrica.com/2022/south-africa-confirms-first-monkeypox-case-not-linked-to-travel/">South Africa confirms first monkeypox case, not linked to travel</a></h3>



&#8220;If there is the political will to share equitably the means of response between developed and developing countries&#8230;, each country will be able to benefit,&#8221; he said.



At an online briefing with reporters on Thursday, the acting director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, Ahmed Ogwell Ouma, said monkeypox case and death numbers were already at &#8220;emergency levels&#8221; on the continent.



The WHO will convene a closed meeting of experts at 12 p.m. (1000 GMT) in Geneva. It remains unclear when the decision will be announced.



The emergency committee meeting on Thursday includes experts from the most affected regions, who have also consulted with scientists including Nakoune. They will make a recommendation to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who makes the ultimate decision&nbsp;on&nbsp;whether to call the emergency.



The step mainly functions to sound the alarm, and can prompt further guidance from the&nbsp;WHO, as well as focus attention among member states.&nbsp;The WHO has already provided detailed guidance on the outbreak and said it is working on a mechanism for sharing treatments and vaccines.



Most experts agree monkeypox technically meets the criteria for the WHO definition of an emergency. It is a sudden and unusual event spreading internationally, and requires cross-country cooperation.



But the WHO is in a precarious position after COVID,&nbsp;according to&nbsp;Clare Wenham, a global health assistant professor at the London School of Economics.



If the WHO declares an emergency and countries do not act, it could undermine the agency&#8217;s role in controlling global disease, she said.



&#8220;They&#8217;re damned if they do, and damned if they don&#8217;t,&#8221; she added.



FACTBOX-Monkeypox cases around the world<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2XF1XF&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



EXPLAINER-What vaccines, treatments do we have to combat monkeypox?&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL5N2XG5MK&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



FOCUS-Test makers target monkeypox market as cases surge&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL8N2XN537&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



Disease experts call on WHO, governments for more action on monkeypox<a href="https://www.reutersconnect.com/all?search=all%3AL2N2XI0SC&amp;linkedFromStory=true" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Read full story</a>



(Reporting by Jennifer Rigby, additional reporting by Emma Farge and James Macharia Chege in JohannesburgEditing by Mark Heinrich and Bernadette Baum)

106913464-1626783928878-gettyimages-1233680604-AVDjune7

WHO eyes decision on monkeypox ’emergency’, Africa says it’s long overdue

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="820" height="461" src="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/107071556-1654530822898-gettyimages-1208505324-20200221viurs_0035__a-820x461.jpeg" alt="" class="wp-image-417748" srcset="https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/107071556-1654530822898-gettyimages-1208505324-20200221viurs_0035__a-820x461.jpeg 820w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/107071556-1654530822898-gettyimages-1208505324-20200221viurs_0035__a-300x169.jpeg 300w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/107071556-1654530822898-gettyimages-1208505324-20200221viurs_0035__a-160x90.jpeg 160w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/107071556-1654530822898-gettyimages-1208505324-20200221viurs_0035__a-768x432.jpeg 768w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/107071556-1654530822898-gettyimages-1208505324-20200221viurs_0035__a-1536x864.jpeg 1536w, https://cms.cnbcafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/107071556-1654530822898-gettyimages-1208505324-20200221viurs_0035__a.jpeg 1600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 820px) 100vw, 820px" /><figcaption>Dowell | Moment | Getty Images</figcaption></figure>



The Covid-19 pandemic has abated in much of the world and, with it, many of the social restrictions implemented to curb its spread, as people have been eager to return to pre-lockdown life.



But in its place have emerged a series of viruses behaving in new and peculiar ways.



Take seasonal influenza, more commonly known as the flu. The 2020 and 2021 U.S. winter flu seasons were some of the mildest on record both in terms of deaths and hospitalizations. Yet cases ticked up in February and climbed further into the spring and summer as Covid restrictions were stripped back.



“We’ve never seen a flu season in the U.S. extend into June,” Dr. Scott Roberts, associate medical director for infection prevention at the Yale School of Medicine, told CNBC Tuesday.



“Covid has clearly had a very big impact on that. Now that people have unmasked, places are opening up, we’re seeing viruses behave in very odd ways that they weren’t before,” he said.



And flu is just the beginning.



Respiratory syncytial virus, a cold-like virus common during winter months, exhibited an uptick last summer, with cases surging among children in Europe, the U.S and Japan. Then, in January this year, an outbreak of adenovirus 41, usually responsible for gastrointestinal illness, became the apparent cause of a mysterious and severe liver disease among young children.



Elsewhere, Washington State has been experiencing its worst flare-up of tuberculosis in 20 years.



And now, a recent outbreak of monkeypox, a rare viral infection typically found in Central and West Africa, is baffling health experts with over 1,000 confirmed and suspected cases emerging in 29 non-endemic countries.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-viruses-behaving-badly"><a></a>Viruses behaving badly</h2>



At least two genetically distinct monkeypox variants are now circulating in the U.S., likely stemming from two different spillover infections from animals to humans, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said last week.



The World Health Organization noted earlier last week that the virus, whose symptoms include fever and skin lesions, may have been going undetected in society for “months or possibly a couple of years.”







“The two strains probably indicate this has been going on longer than we first thought. We’re at a concerning time right now,” said Roberts. He noted that the coming weeks will be telling for the course of the virus, which has an incubation period of 5 to 21 days.



It is not yet clear whether the smallpox-like virus has mutated, though health experts have reported that it is behaving in new and atypical ways. Most notably, it appears to be spreading within the community — most commonly through sex — as opposed to via travel from places where it is typically found. Symptoms are also appearing in new ways.



“Patients are presenting differently than we were previously taught,” said Roberts, noting that some infected patients are bypassing initial flu-like symptoms and immediately developing rashes and lesions, specifically and unusually on the genitals and anus.



“There’s a lot of unknowns that do make me uneasy. We are seeing very atypical behaviors in a number of ways for a number of viruses,” he said.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Restrictions reduce exposure, immunity</h2>



One explanation, of course, is that Covid-induced restrictions and mask-wearing over the past two years have given other infectious diseases little opportunity to spread in the ways they once did.



Where viruses did manage to slip through, they were frequently missed as public health surveillance centered largely on the pandemic.



That indeed was the case in Washington’s tuberculosis outbreak, according to local health authorities, who said parallels between the two illnesses allowed TB cases to go undiagnosed.



Now, as pandemic-induced restrictions have eased and usual habits resumed, viruses that were in retreat have found a fertile breeding ground in newly social and travel-hungry hosts.



The recent monkeypox outbreak is thought to have stemmed, at least in part, from two mass events in Europe, a lead adviser to the WHO said last month.



Meantime, two years of reduced exposure have lowered individual immunity to diseases and made society as a whole more vulnerable. That is especially true for young children — typically germ amplifiers — who missed opportunities to gain antibodies against common viruses, either through their mother’s womb or early years socializing.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Missed childhood vaccinations</h2>



That could explain the uptick in curious severe acute hepatitis cases among children, according to health experts who are looking into possible links to Covid restrictions.



“We are also exploring whether increased susceptibility due to reduced exposure during the Covid-19 pandemic could be playing a role,” the U.K. Health Security Agency said in April.



The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has also expressed concern that lockdowns may have caused many children to miss childhood vaccinations, potentially raising the risks of other vaccine-preventable illnesses such as measles and pertussis.



“During the Covid pandemic, access to primary care, including childhood vaccinations, was unavailable to many children,” Jennifer Horney, professor of epidemiology at the University of Delaware, told CNBC.



“To prevent increases in these diseases, catch-up vaccination campaigns are needed globally,” she added.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading"><a></a>Beware surveillance bias</h2>



That said, there is also now greater awareness and surveillance of public health issues in the wake of the pandemic, making diagnoses of some outbreaks more commonplace.



“Covid has raised the profile of public health matters so that we are perhaps paying more attention to these events when they occur,” said Horney, adding that public health systems set up to identify Covid have also helped diagnose other diseases.



Professor Eyal Leshem, infectious disease specialist at Sheba Medical Center, agreed: “The general population and the media have become much more interested in zoonotic outbreaks and infectious diseases.”



However, he also warned of the role of “surveillance bias,” whereby individuals and medical professionals are more likely to report cases of diseases as they grow more high profile. That suggests that some viruses, such as monkeypox, may appear to be growing when in fact they were previously underreported.



“It’s not that the disease is more prevalent, but that it gets more attention,” Leshem said.



Still, the increased monitoring of infectious disease outbreaks is no bad thing, he noted. With the increased spread and mutation of infectious diseases — as seen with Covid-19 — the more awareness and understanding of the changing nature of diseases, the better.



“The public and media attention will help governments and global organizations direct more resources into surveillance and protection of future pandemics,” Leshem said, highlighting research, surveillance and intervention as three key areas of focus.



“These investments have to occur globally to prevent and mitigate the next pandemic,” he said.

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