FHI 360 staff are responding to the mpox epidemic across the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which continues to be the most affected country in Africa by mpox, according to the World Health Organization.
Staff are transporting samples for testing, training practitioners, and procuring and distributing personal protective equipment through the Meeting Targets and Maintaining Epidemic Control (EpiC) project, which is funded by USAID. FHI 360 has also conducted awareness raising campaigns in local schools where mpox cases are found.
Andy Numbi, senior technical advisor based in Kinshasa, DRC, says:
“Apart from more vaccines, the single most important factor in controlling this epidemic is better and faster diagnostics. We’ve gotten the turnaround time on transporting and testing samples down from 20 days to less than a week in some locations, but detection is still a painfully slow process.
“It takes about an hour to prepare a test and another hour to run it in the GeneXpert machine. Each test requires one disposable cartridge. There are a limited number of machines available to test suspected mpox samples in more rural areas. The machines require staff training and are costly to operate. If there isn’t testing capacity locally, samples must be transported to a larger lab, and limited land access and unstable communication networks are posing significant challenges.
“Currently, the test positivity rate we are seeing is upwards of 90% in places like Bukavu. Longer transport times mean delays in treatment and greater potential for the disease to spread. We are working hard in partnership with the Ministry of Public Health to reduce transport times and expedite the communication of test results to referring labs and health facilities.” We have recent photos of this work to support editorial coverage. If you are an editor or reporter, please contact jgarcia@fhi360.org
