Welcome to the fourteenth issue of our report, “Mpox: Transparency and Accountability for the Global Response.”
In the wake of the U.S. health agencies’ communications and foreign aid freezes, we hope to serve as a resource for transparency on emerging outbreaks globally while continuing to provide in-depth analysis of the mpox response. We will provide brief updates on emerging outbreaks with the state of available medical countermeasures and diagnostics needed to effectively respond.
Sierra Leone experiences an exponential growth in new mpox cases; Steady decline in mpox cases in previously high-burden countries: Sierra Leone is reporting a surge in clade II mpox cases with over 100 new confirmed cases per day, with hot spots in the Western Area (urban and rural) including the capital of Freetown. There has been high severity of disease and deaths in cases with co-morbidities such as HIV, and approximately 7% of cases in the country are people living with HIV. There are approximately 800 active cases that are primarily being treated using home-based care, but there has been low isolation compliance. The health system in the country is over stretched with mpox treatment centers having a maximum bed capacity of 60. Africa CDC’s Incident Management Support Team organized a mission to Sierra Leone to assess the situation and have conducted trainings on infection prevention and control, and case management for healthcare workers. In the coming weeks, efforts will focus on scaling-up the vaccination campaign, intensifying active surveillance, increasing laboratory capacity, and improving home-based care. Read more on our latest mpox and other emerging outbreaks response tracking.