United States President, Joe Biden, announced the donation of one million mpox vaccine doses and a minimum of $500 million to African countries to assist them in responding to the outbreak.
Biden announced the news on Tuesday at the United Nations General Assembly in New York and encouraged other nations to emulate his actions, saying we must now move quickly to face mpox.
In August, WHO declared mpox a global health emergency after an outbreak in Congo spread to neighboring countries and India. Between January and September 8, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a total of 25,093 suspected mpox cases and 723 deaths across the African continent.
Mpox, formerly referred to as monkeypox, is a viral disease primarily transmitted to humans through contact with infected animals. Human-to-human transmission is also possible through close physical contact. The illness manifests with symptoms including fever, muscle aches, and large boil-like skin lesions, which can be fatal in some cases.
