Nairobi – Kenyan well being authorities have applied a raft of preparedness and response measures to swiftly detect and halt the unfold of mpox, which was confirmed within the nation on 31 July 2024.

Kenya together with Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda have confirmed instances of the clade 1b mpox variant, which was first detected within the Democratic Republic of the Congo and is believed to be extra extreme and transmissible. The fast unfold of clade 1b was among the many components for the declaration of the mpox outbreak a public well being emergency of worldwide concern by World Well being Group (WHO) on 14 August 2024.

At the moment 14 international locations within the African area are reporting instances for the reason that begin of 2024, with the Democratic Republic of the Congo accounting for round 90% of all instances. Kenya has to this point recorded 5 mpox instances, with no deaths. 4 out of the 5 instances had been imported from neighbouring international locations, whereas the fifth is a contact of one among these instances, that means that there’s doable neighborhood transmission within the nation.

Kenya’s Ministry of Well being, with help from WHO and companions, has developed an mpox nationwide preparedness and response plan that has recognized 14 excessive danger counties alongside the Northern Hall, a busy transport route that runs from the Kenya-Uganda border to the port metropolis of Mombasa, the place fast response groups have been deployed to accentuate surveillance.

Greater than 930 000 travellers have been screened to this point for mpox at 26 of Kenya’s 35 factors of entry. In the meantime, 137 well being employees and 555 workers at two of the 2 principal airports within the capital Nairobi have been skilled on easy methods to determine signs, as nicely an infection prevention and management measures. WHO offered coaching supplies and technical help; comparable trainings are ongoing at 4 land factors of entry.

“We’ve centered on the supply of acceptable messages on prevention and management of mpox by participating communities and faculties in these at-risk areas, whereas surveillance has additionally been heightened by contact tracing and screening of travellers at factors of entry in keeping with WHO’s momentary suggestions,” says Dr Daniel Langa’t, Head of the Division of Illness Surveillance and Response at Kenya’s Ministry of Well being.    

To reinforce diagnostic capability, WHO has supported the Ministry of Well being’s procurement of laboratory provides to a complete worth of US$ 62 000. This consists of greater than 100 PCR diagnostic kits to check as much as 7500 suspected mpox samples, in addition to tools to gather, protect and transport viral specimens from the sector to the laboratory.

The Group has additionally helped to coordinate an emergency taskforce of well being sector companions and supported the event of a danger communications and neighborhood engagement response plan.  

“We’ve gained abilities on early recognition of indicators for mpox, improved sanitation and hygiene mechanisms, and most significantly gained the proper info on how mpox is transmitted and could be prevented,” says Moses Tarus, a floor security flight officer at Wilson Airport.  

Kenya is one among 14 affected international locations within the African area to be included in a brand new US$ 600 million joint continental plan between WHO and the Africa Centres for Illness Management and Prevention to ramp up mpox preparedness and response.

“Kenya has been proactive and fleet-footed in concentrating on its early interventions to this outbreak to factors of entry and border counties,” says Dr Abdourahmane Diallo, the WHO consultant to Kenya. “We’ll proceed to help the nation because it continues to construct on this optimistic basis, working collectively to cease mpox in its tracks.”