With mpox infections continuing to rise on the continent, the Africa CDC and the European Commission have launched the Partnership to Accelerate Mpox Testing and Sequencing in Africa (PAMTA) initiative to boost diagnostics and outbreak response capabilities in mpox-affected countries in the region, reports CIDRAP.
Gambia was announced this week as being the 25th and latest affected African nation, said the Africa CDC.
PAMTA plans to bolster resilience against current and future outbreaks, accelerating testing, sequencing and capacity building, and boosting local manufacturing efforts for mpox and other priority pathogens through a €9.4m grant to Africa CDC and the African Society for Laboratory Medicine, managed by the European Health and Digital Executive Agency.
The project, which officially began on 1 June, will be implemented over three years and is funded under the EU4Health 2024 Work Programme.
Africa CDC Director General Jean Kaseya said the partnership would help set a new benchmark for outbreak detection and response.
The PAMTA initiative focuses on four key objectives: (1) ramping up mpox testing, with the goal of supporting more than 150 000 tests; (2) strengthening genomic sequencing capacity to track viral evolution and spread; (3) building human resource capacity in molecular diagnostics, genomics, bioinformatics and data interpretation; and (4) promoting the production and validation of locally developed testing kits within Africa.
Nearly 3 000 new cases in Africa
This year, mpox cases in Africa have reached 91 159, and of those 28 386 have been confirmed, as have 667 deaths.
Officials recorded 2 603 suspected cases for the week ending 19 July, up from 2 578 the week before. But confirmed cases were down 27%, however, from 755 to 553. There have also been 16 new mpox deaths.
The Africa CDC said that the first Gambian case was reported on 11 July and confirmed last week. The case was caused by the clade 2 mpox virus, and at this stage, there are 71 suspected cases in the country.
Confirmed cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) are down 42%, but suspected cases, however, rose 9% in the week ending 19 July.
Confirmed cases dropped by 35% and suspected cases declined 43% in Uganda, which is the second hardest-hit country. Sierra Leone, with the third-highest overall case count, saw suspected cases rise 17% and confirmed cases increase 20%.
The DRC has 120 575 suspected cases in 2024 and 2025 (28 928 confirmed), Uganda has 15 590 suspected cases (7 582 confirmed), and Sierra Leone has 6 135 suspected cases (4 876 confirmed). Deaths in the three countries are now at 1 909, 48, and 42, respectively.
Risk of sustained community spread
In a situation report, the WHO said Mozambique has reported cases of clade 1b mpox for the first time, and that 21 countries in Africa have reported ongoing mpox transmission in the past six weeks.
Australia, China, and the United Kingdom have reported new mpox clade 1b cases since the last WHO situation report.
The agency said that South Africa, Central African Republic, the DRC, Liberia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and Uganda have all begun vaccination campaigns, with most nations implementing a single-dose strategy targeting populations at high risk of exposure.
More than 890 000 vaccine doses have been administered on the continent.
CIDRAP article – Mpox testing initiative launched in Africa as outbreaks continue (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Mpox cases rise in South Africa, Mozambique
WHO extends mpox emergency after African surge
Sierra Leone declares mpox emergency