The Monkeypox Access and Allocation Facility, initiated by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the Global Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF and the World Health Organization , decided on Wednesday to provide priority vaccine allocations to nine African countries severely affected by the monkeypox outbreak.
Allocation Mechanism
The Monkeypox Access and Allocation Mechanism was launched by the World Health Organization in September 2024. The mechanism aims to respond to the global public health emergency caused by the sharp increase in monkeypox cases in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August 2024, and to ensure fair access to vaccines, therapeutic drugs and diagnostic tools through international cooperation, especially to provide support for countries with limited resources.
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The Monkeypox Access and Allocation Facility (MAPAFM) is allocating approximately 3.6 million doses of the vaccine to high-risk areas in partnership with the Africa CDC, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, and the European Agency for Health Emergency Preparedness and Response (EEPRR). The Facility prioritizes transparency, adaptability, and equity to ensure that resources are allocated to those who need them most, reducing the risk of severe disease and controlling the spread of monkeypox.
Focus on rationing
The nine countries that will receive priority allocations are the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda, which will receive 899,000 doses of vaccine.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, the worst-affected country with four out of every five lab-confirmed cases in Africa this year, will receive 85% of the quota.
The vaccines come from Canada, the United States, the Global Vaccine Alliance and the European Union (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal and Spain).
In mid-August, WHO declared an outbreak of monkeypox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighbouring countries a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, while the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention declared it a public health emergency on the continent. This year, 19 countries in Africa have reported outbreaks of monkeypox, many of which are new to the viral disease.
The epicentre of the outbreak remains the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with more than 38,000 suspected cases and more than 1,000 deaths reported this year.
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