The Africa Center for Disease Control (Africa CDC) is developing a Continental Response Plan to guide the response to the Mpox outbreak in African countries.
CDC Director General for Africa Jean Kaseya made the disclosure during an online press conference on Tuesday.
He said the plan is being worked on and a draft document should be submitted to relevant groups, such as the Emergency Response Advisory Group, for input by Wednesday.
Mr. Kaseye said the plan has two main components: one is the individual response plan of African countries affected by the zoonotic disease outbreak and the other focuses on the response plan obtained from partners providing technical support.
He said these partners play a crucial role in “responding to the Mpox outbreak in the country.”
“It is not just about the Africa CDC. It is also about other partners within and outside the continent who have joined the effort to stop the outbreak.
“MPox is not an African disease. This is a mistake. It is a public health problem affecting countries around the world,” he said.
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According to Mr. Kaseye, some of these partners include Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the World Food Programme (WFP) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).
Country response plan
Mr. Kaseye also noted that the Continental Response Plan will combine response plans developed by the 13 countries with suspected and confirmed cases of Mpox.
He said the continental plan will also provide a way for the public agency to review the quality of the response plan developed by each country and support the development of a better plan.
“This will help us identify the needs of each country and the quality of the plan developed by each country,” he said.
The continental plan includes the plan of the 13 countries.
“Tomorrow (Wednesday) we will be finalizing the first draft and sharing it with the relevant authorities for their feedback. Once we receive their comments, the plan will be presented during the Africa CDC board meeting for validation,” Mr. Kaseye said.
“The Africa CDC is convening the committee of heads of state in the second week of September. The committee will also include the participation of some key partners at the highest level. It will be an opportunity for our head of state to endorse the Continental Response Plan.”
The Director-General noted that this plan is the first continental action to be developed in Africa in response to an outbreak, and noted that it will also help build capacity for vaccine production on the continent.
Mpox vaccine
Mr Kaseye also said the Africa CDC has secured 215,000 doses of the IMVANEX vaccine from Bavarian Nordic.
He also said the public health agency is expecting an additional 100,000 vaccine doses from France.
“This means that we have gone from 215,000 doses to 315,000 doses.
“In addition, we have 55,000 doses from the United States. We also have another 15,000 from GAVI, while Germany is also expected to donate vaccines to Africa,” he said.
He noted that the Africa CDC has at least 380,000 vaccine doses that will be distributed among affected African countries.
While stating that countries are also expected to pledge funding for the collective effort to curb the outbreak, Mr. Kaseye noted that the agency plans to use the $10.4 million grant provided by the African Union Committee to distribute and administer the Mpox vaccine across the continent.