BBC – More than 500 mpox patients have fled clinics in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo over the last month amid the current conflict.
Officials at Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), a leading health agency on the continent, have said they are worried as the missing patients risk spreading the highly contagious disease that is suspected to have killed at 900 people in DR Congo last year.
The patients fled from facilities in Goma and Bukavu – two cities that descended into chaos as they were seized by the Rwanda-backed M23 rebels over the past weeks.
“We were looted. We lost equipment. It was a disaster,” Dr Samuel Muhindo, in charge of a clinic in Goma, told the BBC.
Mpox [monkeypox] can cause symptoms such as lesions, headaches and fever.
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According to Africa CDC, since the start of this year almost 2,890 mpox cases and 180 deaths have been reported in the country, which has been at the epicentre of several recent outbreaks.
What is mpox and how is it spread?
Dr Muhindo described how 128 patients had fled Goma’s Mugunga health centre in the wake of the fighting at the end of January.
His health workers had not been able to trace them as paperwork at the clinic was destroyed, he said.
At Bisengimana, a hospital in Goma that also treats mpox, looters took medicines and personal protective equipment.
Fires were lit outside the centre and when the perpetrators departed, patients’ medical records were left strewn on the floor.
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The situation has been further complicated by the M23’s decision to close a network of camps in Goma where tens of thousands of people who had sought refuge from fighting in recent years.
They were given 72 hours to leave last week, although the M23 later said it was encouraging “voluntary returns” …
Funding: The United States has provided millions of dollars in aid to help fight the mpox outbreak in Africa, including vaccines, diagnostic tests, and training.
- Emergency health assistance: The U.S. has provided more than $55 million in emergency health assistance to the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and other affected countries.
- Vaccines: The U.S. has donated mpox vaccines to Nigeria and the DRC. President Biden has pledged to donate up to 1 million mpox vaccines.
- Diagnostic tests: The U.S. has provided test assays and reagents to help countries detect the mpox virus.
- Training: The U.S. has trained laboratory personnel on how to use mpox test kits.
- Other support: The U.S. has provided support for surveillance, risk communication, and community engagement.
The U.S. has worked with the World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF to support the Congolese government. The U.S. government has also provided significant amounts of global health and humanitarian assistance to the DRC. SOURCE: GOOGLE Generative AI