Africa's mpox response is less than 10% funded, says Africa CDC

DAKAR (Reuters) - Africa has secured less than 10% of the estimated $245 million it needs to fight a surging mpox outbreak on the continent, a senior official from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said on Wednesday.

The continent is under pressure to curb an outbreak of the potentially deadly infection that the World Health Organization declared to be a global health emergency in mid-August, after a new strain began proliferating from Democratic Republic of Congo to neighbouring countries.

Africa CDC has pulled together a budget to determine the amount of money available for the mpox response and the resources it needs to mobilise.

"We've come to the first estimate of $245 million," Africa CDC Chief of Staff Ngashi Ngongo said at a WHO meeting in the Republic of Congo's capital Brazzaville.

Democratic Republic of Congo's government has committed $10 million to support the fight against the outbreak while the African Union has approved $10.4 million, Ngongo said.

Therefore, about $20 million is currently available for the response, he said, adding that these figures would be updated.

"The current gap where we stand today is about $224 million that we are looking for," he said.

Jean Kaseya, director general of Africa CDC, said during the meeting that the organisation was moving towards securing almost 1 million doses of mpox vaccine.

Those include 215,000 doses from vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic, 100,000 doses from France, almost 100,000 doses from Germany and about 500,000 doses from Spain.

There is no timeline yet on when the vaccines might reach the Democratic Republic of Congo, which is the most affected by the virus.

Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill.

(Reporting by Anait Miridzhanian; editing by Jonathan Oatis)