DR Congo says mpox vaccines arrive next week

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00:00Congo's health minister, Roger Kamba, said on Monday that Mpox vaccines are due to arrive in

00:04the country next week after the government requested help from the US and Japanese

00:09governments. The US had earlier committed to donate 50,000 vaccine doses to Congo,

00:14which has the overwhelming majority of cases of Mpox, a viral disease declared a global health

00:19emergency by the World Health Organization last week. Congo currently has nearly 17,000 Mpox

00:26cases, according to the government, and has registered over 500 deaths. Formerly known as

00:31monkeypox, the disease has been spreading steadily in Congo for two years, but since last year,

00:36a new and more contagious strain of the virus has emerged, leading to an explosion of cases,

00:41primarily among children. The new strain, known as clade 1b, emerged in eastern Congo,

00:47a region embroiled in militia conflict and which has millions of people living in dire conditions

00:52in displacement camps. Suspected Mpox cases have already begun to spring up in these camps,

00:58and the fear among health experts is that the disease will start spreading quickly in the

01:02unhygienic living conditions there. Experts think that sex workers are contributing to the spread

01:08of the disease, but the virus can also be transmitted through close contact with infected

01:13people. Fighting the outbreak will be a daunting task, especially in eastern Congo. Samuel Boland,

01:20one of the experts coordinating the WHO's Mpox response, told us that while the situation is,

01:26and I quote, deeply challenging, health interventions are ongoing even in conflict-torn

01:30areas of North Kivu and South Kivu provinces in eastern Congo. But for now, there simply aren't

01:36enough vaccines to go around. Roger Kamba, the health minister, said that Congo needs about 3.5

01:42million doses.

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