• WHO has released about $1.5 million (about Sh193.5 million) from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies, and plans to release more in the coming days.
• Gavi said WHO’s declaration of a public emergency will give them flexibility to repurpose available funds to buy Mpox vaccines and quickly approve new vaccines.
Image: MoH
Kenya will benefit from a Sh2 billion fund that donors are putting together to fight the spread of Mpox.
The World Health Organization said it anticipates an immediate funding requirement of at least $15 million (about Sh1.9 billion) to support surveillance, preparedness and response activities.
Most of the support will go to African countries, the epicentre of the current outbreak.
“We have released about $1.5 million (about Sh193.5 million) from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies and we plan to release more in the coming days. We are also appealing to donors to fund the rest of the response plan,” WHO director general Tedros Adhanom said.
Only one Kenyan, who has since healed, has tested positive for Mpox. However, experts believe more sick people have not been tested.
Most people with Mpox get a rash and recover without treatment after a few weeks. In rare cases, people can become extremely sick and die.
On Wednesday, WHO said the increasing spread of Mpox in Africa constitutes a global health emergency, warning a deadlier version of the virus might spill broadly across international borders.
Dr Tedros said there have been more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths in Africa this year, which exceeds last year’s figures.
“WHO has been working on the Mpox outbreak in Africa and raising the alarm that this is something that should concern us all,” he told the media.
In the past month, more than 100 laboratory-confirmed cases of the deadly clade 1b have been reported in four countries neighbouring the DRC that have not reported Mpox before: Kenya, Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.
Experts believe the true number of cases to be higher as a large proportion of clinically compatible cases have not been tested.
WHO said part of the money being raised will support countries to access vaccines and develop the strategies to roll them out.
Gavi, which subsidises vaccines for Kenya and other developing countries, said WHO’s declaration of a public emergency will give Gavi the flexibility to repurpose available funds to buy Mpox vaccines and quickly approve new vaccines.
“Gavi has accelerated engagement with manufacturers, including Bavarian Nordic, for potential direct procurement of Mpox vaccines in support of outbreak response,” Gavi said in a statement.
“WHO has recently announced that two vaccines are under consideration for Emergency Use Listing, and this is an important interim measure enabling partners to act now, in advance of the longer timeframe expected for WHO pre-qualification.”
Gavi says it will, beginning in 2026, establish a global stockpile of Mpox vaccines – similar to its existing stockpiles for cholera, ebola, meningitis and yellow fever vaccines.
The Ministry of Health confirmed the one case in Kenya on July 29 after a 42-year-old long-distance truck driver presented at the Taita Taveta border post with the symptoms.
He had travelled from Kampala to Mombasa on July 12.
At the time of identification, he was travelling to Rwanda through Tanzania via the Taveta One Stop Border Point.
“This is the first Mpox case ever identified in Kenya. Genomic sequencing analysis has identified it as Clade Ib. No deaths had been reported as of August 8,” WHO said.
The patient has since healed.
On Monday, Director General for Health Patrick Amoth, convened a crisis meeting with different officials at the Health ministry to craft a plan to prevent a wider outbreak.
A statement from the ministry said Amoth outlined key measures.
They include rapid laboratory testing, community engagement, infection prevention control and comprehensive case management.