Uganda has detected its first two cases of mpox (monkeypox), the health ministry said on Saturday, a day after the Africa Union allocated $10.4 million in funding to combat the outbreak. The cases were discovered in the western border district of Kasese, in the towns of Mpondwe and nearby Bwera, the director general of health services Henry Mwenda told AFP.
"Our findings indicate the infections did not take place in Uganda but (came) from DRC," he said of the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo. Nine people were under medical surveillance following contact with the two confirmed cases, he added. Kenya and Burundi report one and three cases of mpox respectively last month.
On July 20, the DRC reported more than 11,000 suspected cases, including around 450 deaths. The African Union said on Friday it had "urgently approved $10.4 million from COVID funds to support Africa CDC's efforts to continue to combat the Mpox outbreak across the continent".
The funding for the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) will also boost government and partners' actions, the 55-nation AU said. It will help increase monitoring, laboratory testing, regional and national data collection, case and infection management, and access to vaccines, it added. New variant On Monday the eight-member East African Community (EAC) urged governments "to educate their citizens on how to protect themselves and prevent the spread of mpox".
Mpox, previously known as monkeypox, was first discover.