As the Democratic Republic of the Congo fights its deadliest mpox outbreak in history, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) urges global cooperation for the response to the fullest extent possible to ensure the DRC and the continent have adequate resources and equitable access to lifesaving vaccines. According to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, mpox is endemic in 12 African countries.

“The current mpox outbreak is worrisome on multiple levels. The novel virus strain [clade I] spreading across the DRC is 10 times deadlier than what we’ve seen in the past, and we’re now seeing reports of a different variant that seems to be transmitted sexually. This outbreak deserves the world’s urgent and immediate attention,” said AHF Africa Bureau Chief Dr. Penninah Iutung. “We urge global cooperation to ensure all the affected areas have the resources needed to mount an effective response, including vaccine procurement, diagnostics, genomic sequencing, and viral surveillance. This is yet another example of why Africa must have the capacity to produce vaccines on the continent. We lose precious time to control and stop pathogens when we have to wait on wealthy countries to ship health commodities we desperately need.”

About AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF)

AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is a global non-profit organization providing cutting-edge medicine and advocacy to over 1.9 million people in 46 countries worldwide in the US, Africa, Latin America/Caribbean, the Asia/Pacific Region and Europe. We are currently the largest non-profit provider of HIV/AIDS medical care in the world. To learn more about AHF, please visit our website: www.aidshealth.org, find us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/aidshealth and follow us on Twitter: @aidshealthcare and Instagram: @aidshealthcare

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