Sierra Leone seeks help for growing mpox outbreak

Sierra Leonean authorities have called for international help to curb the spread of mpox in the country as a new toll on Saturday showed the number of cases continuing to rise. Vice President Mohamed Juldeh and Senessie visited a new mpox treatment centre with a capacity of 400 beds opened in Freetown on Thursday.

The director of the public agency in charge of combating the disease, said 20,000 vaccine doses were expected to arrive on Sunday, destined for high-risk contacts including healthcare workers. A total of 42,872 healthcare workers on the front lines of the fight against the disease have been vaccinated so far.

First identified in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, the disease had generally been confined to a dozen African countries before spreading more widely from 2022.