With 13 confirmed cases of mpox and one reported death, Kenya is facing an urgent challenge to prevent further spread of this disease.
Fortunately, the World Health Organisation has made strides by approving two additional mpox tests for Emergency Use, enhancing our diagnostic capabilities.
These new tools are crucial in the fight against mpox, particularly in areas with limited healthcare access.
Mpox, a contagious disease with significant public health implications, requires effective testing and swift action for containment.
The introduction of near-point-of-care testing systems like GeneXpert and cobas in larger labs allows for decentralised testing, making it more accessible across all counties.
However, relying solely on technology is insufficient.
Our healthcare workforce must receive training to effectively utilise these tests, and we need to raise public awareness to encourage those with symptoms to seek testing promptly.
We should also draw lessons from past experiences with diseases such as Covid-19 and ebola, where delays in testing and inadequate resources exacerbated the spread.
As both the WHO and Africa CDC have
declared mpox a public health emergency, we
must respond with the urgency it demands.
