ADDIS ABEBA (dpa-AFX) – The African Contagious Diseases Agency (CDC) has warned once morest vaccine hoarding in western countries given the spread of monkeypox cases in Europe and North America. Ahmed Ogwell, deputy director of the CDC, appealed in Addis Ababa on Thursday for lessons to be learned from the early days of the corona pandemic.
Currently, health authorities in African countries where the disease is endemic were short on vaccine. Therefore, the health service workers “on the front lines” of disease control would be vaccinated in particular. “We hope that vaccine will be available primarily where the risk is highest – not where you can pay a lot for it.”
Monkeypox is endemic to Cameroon, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria. So far, 1,405 cases have been confirmed in these countries since the beginning of the year, and 62 people have died. However, the German Robert Koch Institute (RKI) assumes that the African death rates are too high because milder courses are often not recorded. Suspected cases of possible monkeypox are currently being investigated in Morocco and Sudan, Ogwell said.
The member states of the African Union are called upon to step up their control measures for those entering the country and to look out for possible signs of illness. Similar to the case of Covid-19 prevention, it is important to wash and disinfect your hands regularly.
“We are in close contact with our partner agencies in Europe and the US,” said Ogwell. The African health experts know how to deal with monkeypox and are willing to share their knowledge./czy/DP/jha
