Mpox epidemic center in DR Congo: doctors call for help with transportation of vaccines
Kyiv • UNN
200,000 smallpox vaccines have been delivered to the capital of DR Congo, but they still need to be transported to the regions. Health officials are calling on the government to help with the delivery to stop the spread of the infection.
Health workers in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo are in desperate need of vaccines to stop the spread of new infections. The 200,000 vaccines provided by the EU have already been delivered to the capital Kinshasa last week - but they still need to be transported across the vast country, which will take several weeks.
Reported by UNN with reference to BBC News and tv5monde.
Details
Smallpox vaccines are arriving in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the center of the monkeypox epidemic. After 200,000 doses from the European Union arrived in Congo last week, another 50,000 doses were donated by the United States. However, doctors report difficulties with transportation and, consequently, a loss of precious time to fight the spreading virus.
The vaccines have yet to be transported across this vast country - and it may take several weeks before they reach South Kivu (a province in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo - ed.)
Emmanuelle Fikiri, a nurse who works in a clinic that has been turned into a specialized center to fight the virus, notes that doctors are asking the government to “help us by first giving us vaccines.
Reason for the delay in vaccines
Vaccines need to be transported in the right conditions. The vaccines must be stored at a precise temperature - below freezing - to maintain their effectiveness. They also need to be shipped to rural areas of South Kivu, such as Kamituga, Kavumu and Lwiro, where the outbreak is prevalent.
Lack of infrastructure and poor roads mean that helicopters could be used to drop off some vaccines, further driving up costs in a country already struggling financially.
HelpHelp
DR Congo is the Central African country that has suffered the most from the virus in the world.
According to the latest data from the Congolese Institute of Public Health, which is responsible for organizing the response to the epidemic, almost 22,000 cases of infection and 716 deaths have been reported in the DRC since January .
The country already has 265,000 vaccines produced by the Danish laboratory Bavarian Nordic and is set to start the vaccination campaign next month.
Another problem in the Congo, according to doctors, is the lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) for doctors.
“We try to do our best to take care of the sick and not put ourselves at risk. We are not immune to disease.
The Lwiro Public Hospital is running out of clean water, meaning that people have to share what is available in small canisters under their beds.
As you enter (the hospital), which is about an hour's drive north of South Kivu's main city, Bukavu, you are struck by two main things. The first is the loud and loud crying of babies. The second is the stench - a mixture of urine and stagnant water,” the article says.
Over the past three weeks, the clinic, which normally treats about 80 patients a month, has been overwhelmed by nearly 200 patients. Most of them are young people.
Recall
A new, more transmissible strain of monkeypox, “mpox”, has emerged in the Democratic Republic of Congo, raising concerns about its further spread.
