The Minister of Health, Dr Jane Ruth Aceng, has assured Ugandans that the outbreak of monkeypox (Mpox) in the country is under control and being managed efficiently by her ministry.
“An emergency response mechanism, the Incident Management System, consistent to what was used to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2022 Ebola epidemic response has been activitaed,” she told Members of Parliament in her satement on the monkeypox situation in Uganda during a plenary session chaired by the Deputy Speaker, Thomas Tayebwa, on Thursday, 15 August 2024.
On 24 July 2024, the Uganda Virus Research Institute confirmed two cases of Mpox from six samples received from Bwera Hospital in Kasese District. No new cases that have been reported across the country.
The World Health Organsiation on 14 August 2024, decared the Mpox outbreak as a public health emergency of international concern.
Mpox is a self-limiting disease presenting with pastules or small boils on the skin. Often, it is also associated with high grade fever, swelling of lymph nodes,
headache and general body weakness.
Treatment is symptomatic depending on the complaint as there is no specific treatment for the virus.
According to Aceng, Mpox transmission to humans is by contact with the infected animals. Among humans, it spreads by direct contact with an infected person.
However, she warned that despite self-limiting nature of Mpox, in a number of cases, the disease can be fatal and may cause death especially in children under five years, pregnant women and individuals with weak immunity.
“If robust interventions are not made, infection may spread and huge patient case numbers can overwhelm the health systems as we see elsewhere,” she warned.
She noted that the ministry of Health has designated at least 23 districts as high-risk areas with a significant potential for importing the monkeypox (mpox) virus into Uganda.
Aceng revealed that most of the districts are located along the Uganda-DRC border. Among them, five districts hosting refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the capital city, Kampala, are at the highest risk.
To address this threat, the ministry has developed a one-year mpox preparedness and response plan, appealing to the US Embassy for vaccines. Regarding vaccination, she mentioned that two vaccines are currently under consideration for deployment in Uganda.
“There are 17 districts in Uganda that share a border with DRC with regular movement of people and 17 gazetted points of entry, and many undesignated land and water (Lake Albert and George) crossing points,” said Aceng
Since the beginning of the year, more than 17,000 Mpox cases and more than 500 deaths have been reported in 13 countries in Africa, including DR Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Burundi according to the Africa Centre for Disease control and prevention
