Browsing: Africa CDC

• The bulk of the financing will go toward tackling mpox in 14 most affected African countries, and enhancing readiness efforts in 15 others.
• Other funds will go into operational and technical support, ensuring that the plan is executed through a network of partners.
• Africa CDC and WHO hope to reduce the virus’s impact and curb its spread.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have teamed up to counter the spread of Mpox across the continent in a new plan estimated at $600 million. This initiative, which is set to run between September 2024 and February next year, is poised to firm up Africa’s capacity to check the spread of the virus, cushion the populations at most risk and curb the spread of the disease.

Across the continent, mpox is spreading, and although calls for vaccines continue to intensify, the need …

• DRC announces receipt of the first shipment of 99,100 doses of JYNNEOS mpox vaccine.
• Africa CDC reports that another 100,900 mpox vaccine doses will arrive in DRC this Saturday.
• The country says the vaccination will prioritise health workers and vulnerable groups at higher risk of contracting mpox.

For millions of people in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the arrival of 99,100 doses of mpox vaccines presents hope and a lifeline as the disease threatens to damage the country’s socio-economic fabric. On Thursday, authorities in DRC announced the receipt of the first shipment of the JYNNEOS mpox vaccine.

This vital supply, facilitated by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and UNICEF, marks the beginning of a nationwide vaccination campaign aimed at curbing the rapidly escalating mpox epidemic.

The first batch of vaccines was officially received by DRC’s Minister of Health, Samuel Roger Kamba, alongside high-ranking …

• Africa CDC has announced an ambitious alliance with vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic to secure 10 million doses of the mpox vaccine by the end of 2025.
• Vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic says it can supply up to 2 million doses by the end of 2024.
• Mpox outbreak has been particularly severe, prompting Africa CDC to declare it a PHECS on August 13, 2024.

In response to the escalating threat of mpox across the Africa, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has announced an ambitious plan to secure 10 million doses of the mpox vaccine by the end of 2025.

This commitment comes in collaboration with Bavarian Nordic, a leading vaccine manufacturer, which has pledged to ramp up production and ensure the equitable distribution of vaccines.

The initiative is a critical step in tackling the ongoing mpox outbreak, which has been declared a Public Health Emergency of …

• Suspected mpox cases across the continent have surged past 17,000—a sharp increase from 7,146 cases in 2022 and 14,957 cases in 2023.
• The disease has rapidly spread from the epicentre, DRC to at least 13 African countries, including nations previously unaffected such as Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, and Uganda.
• Already, Africa CDC has entered into an alliance to provide over 215,000 doses of the MVA-BN® vaccine—the only Mpox vaccine approved by the FDA and EMA.

The Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has declared the ongoing Mpox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS).

This declaration is the first of its kind since the agency’s establishment in 2017, marking a critical moment in Africa’s public health scene even as authorities step up measures to tackle an outbreak of this deadly disease.

Under the authority granted by Article 3, Paragraph F of the Africa CDC Statutes, …

• Kenya has already enlisted over 107,831 community health workers through the Ministry of Health.
• The target cohort of 25,000 will be trained in the first phase, according to the Resilient and Empowered African Community Health (REACH) initiative.
• REACH will be implemented in phases, aiming to boost skills of the 107,831 community health workers employed by the Government.

Kenya has launched a community health initiative supported by the African Union geared to boosting primary health care at the grassroots, targeting under-served populations.

The programme, under the auspices of the African Union (AU) Member States, is known as Resilient and Empowered African Community Health (REACH) and is geared towards increasing Community Health Workers (CHWs) to over two million in the continent by  2029.

Under the first phase of the initiative, over 25,000 CHWs newly recruited in Kenya will be trained on community health and on the use of Community Health Promotion (CHP) …

• The Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) will receive $100 million from the Wold to support a programme that would help enhance its technical capacity
• The funding will also strengthen Africa CDC’s institutional framework to intensify support to African countries in preparing for, detecting, and responding to disease outbreaks 
• The funds come when the continent is addressing several infectious disease outbreaks in addition to COVID-19, and there are growing risks looking ahead

The Africa Centre for Disease Control (Africa CDC) will receive $100 million from the Wold to support a programme that would help enhance its technical capacity.

According to the partners, the deal will also strengthen Africa CDC’s institutional framework to intensify support to African countries in preparing for, detecting, and responding to disease outbreaks and public health emergencies.

The funds come when the continent is addressing several infectious disease outbreaks in addition to COVID-19, and there are …

mRNA-1644 utilizes Moderna’s messenger RNA (mRNA) technology to deliver a specific class of B cells needed to develop broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) to fight HIV infection. Inducing bnAbs is considered the primary goal of an HIV vaccine, and this requires B-cell activation.

The primary trial endpoints are safety and immunogenicity. The IAVI-sponsored clinical trial, IAVI G003, will test the safety and efficacy of vaccination with the HIV immunogen eOD-GT8 60mer, delivered via Moderna’s mRNA platform. eOD-GT8 60mer was developed by IAVI and Scripps Research teams and was initially tested in phase 1 clinical trial IAVI G001.

According to Contagion Live, IAVI G003 is expected to enroll 18 healthy, HIV-negative adults. The participants will receive 2 doses of eOD-GT8 60mer mRNA, which contains a portion of the viral sequence but cannot cause HIV infection. They will be monitored for safety for 6 months after their second dose, and their immune responses …

Stavros Nicolaou, a Senior Executive at Aspen Pharmacare Group said in the absence of orders or commitments, Aspen is considering the repurposing of two COVID-19 production lines for the manufacture of other products.

“The continent would lose its only existing COVID vaccine manufacturing capacity, It would be a massive setback for Africa’s plans to localize and reduce its dependency on imported vaccines,” he said.

John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, said global health security would be undermined if companies like Aspen were not backed.…

China actively honours its commitment to making vaccines a global public good. At the time when Chinese vaccines had just reached the market and domestic supply was tight, China began to supply vaccines to Africa in support of its battle against the pandemic.
By November 2021, China had provided over 1.7 billion doses of Covid-19 vaccine to more than 110 countries and organizations, including 50 African countries and the AU Commission, and is striving to provide an aggregate total of two billion doses by the end of 2021.
In addition, it donated US$100 million to COVAX, which aims at ensuring all countries have access to a safe, effective vaccine.…

On Sunday, May 10th, statistics from the WorldOmeter showed that New York state had recorded 41 fatalities in 24 hours, down from a high of almost two thousand deaths in Mid April. This was a significant drop in deaths with total US fatalities dropping to below a thousand.

This is a similar drop being recorded all over the world with record low levels being recorded in European hotspots of Italy, France, Spain, and United Kingdown with figures almost going to double digits. It is expected that the effects of the disease might not be felt in a few months.

However, as global figures decline, the same can not be said of Africa which has since a significant rise, blatant disobeying containment measures, and rise of unscientific measures to curb the disease. According to Africa CDC, the AU backed entity, there are 63,293 confirmed cases spread across the continent with 2,290 …