Sierra Leone declared a public well being emergency on Monday to fight mpox, asserting it was stepping up surveillance at its borders after confirming two circumstances of the lethal viral illness.
“The affirmation of two circumstances of mpox within the nation has prompted rapid motion as mandated by the general public well being act,” Well being Minister Austin Demby informed reporters in Freetown.
“On behalf of the federal government of Sierra Leone, I’m declaring a public well being emergency.”
Final week Sierra Leone reported its first confirmed case of mpox because the world’s highest alert stage for the illness was raised final yr.
A second case has since been confirmed after a 21-year-old man confirmed signs on January 6, the Nationwide Public Well being Company stated on social media Monday.
The general public well being emergency “permits us to behave instantly to mobilize the sources wanted to include the illness, forestall additional unfold and supply care to these affected,” the minister stated.
Demby additionally introduced elevated border surveillance and testing, in addition to the launch of a nationwide consciousness marketing campaign.
He added that Sierra Leone’s medical system was prepared to answer circumstances, pointing to expertise gained through the Ebola and COVID-19 outbreaks.
“We urge all residents to stay calm, keep knowledgeable and report any suspected circumstances promptly to well being care authorities,” Demby stated.
Mpox is attributable to a virus from the identical household as smallpox, manifesting in a excessive fever and pores and skin lesions, referred to as vesicles.
First recognized within the Democratic Republic of Congo in 1970, the illness had usually been confined to a dozen African nations however started to unfold extra extensively in 2022, reaching developed nations the place the virus had by no means beforehand circulated.
The World Well being Group (WHO) declared its highest stage of alert in 2024.
Sierra Leone was one of many nations hardest hit by Ebola, which ravaged west Africa a decade in the past in an epidemic killing some 4,000 folks, together with almost seven % of well being employees, between 2014 and 2016.
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