MPOX has been taking its toll in the DRC’s largest province for over a year, even before the current outbreak resurfaced on the continent. Tshopo alone currently accounts for more than two-thirds of MPOX cases in the country’s northeast, and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) is concerned about vaccine deliveries to the region.
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With our correspondent in Kisangani, Joseph Kahongo
MPOX kills more in the northeast of the DRC than in the rest of the country: nearly four people in 100 can die from MPOX in the province of Tshopo, according to the provincial health division.
Boubacar Mballo, coordinator of MSF’s emergency project in the region, expressed concern about this on September 5 during a press briefing. Compared to our four intervention zones, it is obvious that the Tshopo province is the most affected. It kills more people in Tshopo than in the other three intervention provinces. And it will not be a surprise if the mortality rate is also much higher in Tshopo than in the rest. “, he says.
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In Tshopo, the Yakusu health zone is the most affected by monkeypox, with 178 cases since the start of the epidemic. An area to be prioritized during vaccination, according to MSF.
For Boubacar Mballo, prevention remains just as important: “ We also call on the population to prevent themselves from this epidemic by washing their hands, social distancing, but also any preventive measure that will cut the chain of transmission and reduce the spread of the epidemic within the population. »
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Although the first vaccines arrived in Kinshasa on September 5, no date has been announced for deliveries of doses to Tshopo. Forty-three people have died from monkeypox in the region since the start of the epidemic.