#Communiqué: United in the Fight Against #Mpox in Africa - #High-Level #Emergency Regional #Meeting

We, the Ministers of #Health of #Angola, #Benin, #Burundi, #Cameroon, #CentralAfricanRepublic, #Congo, #RDC, #Gabon, #Ghana, #Liberia, #Nigeria, #Uganda and partners, meeting in #Kinshasa, #DemocraticRepublicCongo on 13 April 2024;

NOTING WITH CONCERN the prolonged and ongoing #epidemic of #mpox in several Central and West African countries and the #potential #risk of #transmission to #neighbouring countries and beyond;
SERIOUSLY CONCERNED about the changing transmission dynamics, high #mortality rate and transmissibility of the monkeypox #virus, as well as the morbidity, mortality and social and #economic #impacts;
AWARE of the limitations on access to and acquisition of #medical #countermeasures, including #diagnostics,# treatments, #vaccines and other tools for early detection, verification, care, treatment and prevention;

RECOGNIZING the common threat posed by the mpox outbreak to the health and economic security of the populations of the Central and West African regions and the urgent need to address this common threat by all member states of the African Union;
ACKNOWLEDGING the existing frameworks, protocols, strategies and agreements for cross-border solidarity, collaboration and coordination on infectious disease issues,....

CONVINCED of the #urgent need to strengthen preparedness and response to mpox at points of entry and within the respective national borders of #AU Member States, including the need for a #coordinated regional and sub-regional approach to prepare and respond effectively and rapidly to mpox and other similar #epidemics;
NOTING the need for a strong national focus on the recommended comprehensive interventions (surveillance, contact tracing, community engagement, #vaccination and targeted research);
COMMENDING national #governments in the region for their ongoing reflections and analyses of the situation, as well as their efforts to respond to mpox epidemics, including collaborative initiatives on mpox research to fill knowledge gaps;
COMMENDING Africa #CDC, #WHO, #UNICEF, #US #CDC, #USAID, #CEPI, Wellcome Trust, GAVI and other technical and financial partners for their support to the mpox response, including cross-border collaboration between affected and at-risk neighbouring countries;

Collectively, we resolve and commit our governments and institutions to:
https://africacdc.org/news-item/communique-united-in-the-fight-against-mpox-in-africa-high-level-emergency-regional-meeting/

#Afrika #afrique #africa #افريقيا

He was born in Moscow, but his family moved to the United States in the 1990s. In 2006, he returned to Russia, where he became a regular contributor to the local English-language edition of The Moscow Times.

#Shuster became #times #Moscow #correspondent. He spent most of his time with the Moscow beau monde and wrote about the politics of #Russia and #neighbouring #countries.

https://bit.ly/3SOogr9