IBADAN, Nigeria (VOICE Of NAIJA)- The World Health Organisation (WHO) said half of the deaths recorded from monkeypox in 2022, are from Nigeria which is the highest in Africa.
Speaking on Friday at a virtual media briefing, Matshidiso Moeti, WHO regional director for Africa, said there have now been 524 confirmed cases and 12 deaths across 11 African countries.
“The majority of cases are in Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ghana. Of the 12 deaths, six occurred in Nigeria, four in Ghana, and two in the Central African Republic,” she said.
“Although no single monkeypox vaccine has been administered to any high-risk group in any of the African countries reporting cases, WHO has provided 39,000 test kits to countries, enabling improved testing rates.
Meanwhile, the latest monkeypox situation report from WHO shows that from January 1 to September 4, 2022, a total of 52,996 laboratory-confirmed cases of monkeypox and 18 deaths have been reported from 102 countries in all six WHO regions.
“As of 4 September, the ten countries that have reported the highest cumulative number of cases globally are the United States of America (19,351), Spain (6,645), Brazil (5,197), France (3,646), Germany (3,493), the United Kingdom (3,413), Peru (1,546), Canada (n = 1289), the Netherlands (n = 1,172), Portugal (871). Together, these countries account for 88.0% of the cases reported globally,” the report reads.
“The outbreak continues to affect primarily young men, with 98.2% of cases with available data being men with a median age of 36 years.”