KAMPALA, Sept. 7 (Xinhua) — Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has allocated 2,000 doses of mpox vaccine to Uganda, a senior government official said on Friday.
Ugandan Minister of Health Jane Ruth Aceng told reporters that the vaccines are expected to arrive soon and will cover up to 1,000 individuals. “Furthermore, (the) government is working with development partners to secure additional doses of the mpox vaccine,” she said. “The Ministry of Health is working on the most appropriate modalities for the most equitable delivery and distribution of these vaccines informed by the epidemiology and severity of the disease.”
Uganda, which confirmed the outbreak of the highly infectious viral disease in early August, so far has recorded 10 cases of mpox and 49 contacts across northern, eastern, central, and western regions as well as Kampala, the country’s capital, with four individuals recovering from the disease and six receiving treatment, according to the ministry. “I want to reassure you all to remain calm and vigilant, as the Ministry of Health is in full control of the situation. The country is extremely safe for tourism, travel, and trade, and everyone is welcome,” said Aceng, urging the public to maintain good personal hygiene.
The World Health Organization in August declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern, sounding the alarm over its potential for further international transmission. Mpox, also known as monkeypox, is an infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus that is spread through close contact, with symptoms including fever, swelling of the lymph nodes, sore throat, muscle aches, skin rash, and back pain.
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Xinhua News Agency, founded on November 7, 1931, is China’s national news agency as well as a global news and information network. Xinhua has set up a global news and information gathering network, with headquarters in Beijing, 33 domestic bureaus in provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities plus the special administrative regions of Hong Kong and Macao, as well as 140 bureaus in the rest of the world. Xinhua is yet to set up a bureau in Taiwan, where it has posted resident correspondents. Xinhua provides its worldwide subscribers with news and financial information products in the forms of text, photo, graphics, audio, video, and mobile phone text messages 24 hours a day in eight languages: Chinese, English, French, Russian, Spanish, Arabic, Portuguese and Japanese.
