Mpox cases in DRC are on the rise and continue to spread geographically. They have now been reported in 17 of the country’s 24 provinces. The main caseloads are found in Equateur, Mai Ndombe, Tshopo, Sankuru, and Maniema Provinces.
The Tunda health zone of Maniema notifies increasing numbers of Mpox cases, deaths and areas affected. Maniema is one of the provinces most affected by the humanitarian crisis in eastern DRC and severely lacks operational presence to support populations, especially in the health sector during epidemics.
DG ECHO has committed an additional EUR 350 000 through its Epidemics Tool to support the activities of its partner Alima for Mpox outbreak response in the Tunda Health Zone and expand them to Kailo, Kibombo and Kindu. The funding will be used to reinforce capacity building and community resilience through surveillance, case-detection and -management and infection prevention through community engagement. Preparedness and response will also benefit from the epidemiologic and operational lessons-learnt documented as part of this ongoing action in Maniema.