The NCDC, via its official website on Thursday, said that
this was a 9 per cent increase in the number of new confirmed cases when
compared to the last report.
The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that Monkeypox has
no been renamed Mpox to avoid the racist and stigmatising language used for the
disease that originated in Africa.
Mpox caused alarm when it spread worldwide earlier this
year. While cases have reduced, experts warn this is not the time for
complacency.
The public health agency said that the cumulative case in
the country is 753 confirmed and seven deaths with a case-fatality ratio (CFR)
of one per cent were reported from 36 states and the federal capital territory
(FCT).
The NCDC said that the country has been witnessing a rise in
Mpox cases, noting that the agency is ramping up control measures to curb the
transmission of the virus.
It said that this includes community sensitization, which is
essential to ensure early detection and notification of the disease.
Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) said it’s
supporting the national efforts to bolster disease surveillance, case
investigations, laboratory testing and public awareness of Mpox.
Mpox, a virus with symptoms like those of long-eradicated
smallpox, although less severe, has been present in Nigeria since 2017.
NAN recalls that as of Dec. 23, 2022, 83,483 confirmed cases
of Mpox and 275 deaths were reported from 110 countries/territories globally.
The countries reporting the majority of cases are mainly
Europe and the Americas.
Since the beginning of 2022, the African continent has
reported 1,215 confirmed cases and 219 deaths CFR: 18 per cent of Mpox from
eight endemic Africa Union, Member States.
“These were Benin (3 confirmed cases; 0 confirmed deaths),
Cameroon (18; 3), CAR (8; 2), Congo (5; 3), Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)
(277; 198), Ghana (116; 4), Liberia (4; 0), Nigeria (753; 7) and five
non-endemic countries – Egypt (4; 0), Morocco (3; 0), Mozambique (1; 1), South
Africa (5; 0) and Sudan (18; 1).
In the review week, 59 new confirmed cases in the west
African region with no new deaths of Mpox were reported from Ghana (9 cases; 0
deaths), Liberia (1; 0) and Nigeria (49; 0).
Meanwhile, despite Africa having countries that are endemic
for Mpox, they have had virtually no access to the vaccines, nor to smallpox
vaccines that had previously been used to protect against Mpox.
Africa only just received its first batch of Mpox vaccine as
a donation from South Korea a few weeks ago, according to the Africa Centres
for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
Some experts have said that this is a critical time to
suppress the epidemic by rolling out the vaccine in an equitable way.