Burundi’s monkeypox outbreak could be ended within weeks with adequate resources and fighting the stigma associated with the disease, Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF’s regional health adviser for eastern and southern Africa, said on Friday.
The World Health Organization has declared the recent outbreak a public health emergency after a new variant was detected in Africa.
Burundi has recorded about 600 cases, but the outbreak is limited to a specific area and no deaths have been recorded so far.
“We can contain the virus, contain it and possibly end the outbreak without loss of life,” Ngwakum told reporters in a video conference from the capital, Bujumbura. “I think if we have all the resources… we can curb it immediately.”
He added that one factor would be the ability to combat the stigma associated with the disease by raising awareness of it, calling for the need to “dispel myths and allay fears.”
“If people are afraid and refrain from reporting their cases, it will take a long time,” he continued.
UNICEF is appealing to donors for nearly US$60 million for Burundi and five other countries.
Ngwakum said that about two-thirds of those infected so far in Burundi are children. UNICEF is working to revive distance learning plans that were in place during COVID-19 so that children can continue learning from hospital or home during isolation.
Fifteen African countries have so far reported cases, while the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention warned on Thursday that the outbreak was still out of control.
The world’s first monkeypox vaccination campaign was launched in Burundi last Tuesday.
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