21 Aug 2024

Despite Mpox cases in neighbouring South Africa and rising cases in the continent, it is unlikely that it will result in lockdowns.

This was said by the acting executive director of Botswana Public Health Institute (BPHI), Dr Thebeyame Macheke during a press conference in Gaborone on August 20 to brief the nation about the status of Mpox in the country

He said the possibility of a lockdown was low due to the mode that Mpox was transmitted through.

He noted that Mpox was transmitted through contact unlike COVID-19, which was airborne. “It’s transmission rate is one-on-one, thereby low,” he said.

Dr Macheke also said there were two types of Mpox; clade I epic entered in the Congo Basin and clade II originating in West Africa, adding that the former had a high mortality rate.

He added that the current global outbreak was associated with the mild type and that it was also the one detected in South Africa. Dr Macheke, however, said all the necessary measures should be exercised despite dealing with the mild clade.

He said chances of transmissions locally were even lower as there were close to zero chances of animal-to-human transmissions.

“In other parts of Africa, people eat primates like monkeys and transmission chances are much higher, but since we do not consume such here transmission chances are only limited to human-to-human,” he said.

Dr Macheke also said Mpox was not a new disease in Africa and had been in existence for decades, adding that vaccines for the disease were globally available and in development.

World Health Organisation (WHO) officer in charge for Botswana, Dr Juliet Bataringaya said vaccines were not the only intervention available against Mpox.

She said other preventive measures such as surveillance tests and general self-care were critical. Dr Bataringaya also said even at full production, Mpox vaccines would not be at the same mass scale of COVID-19 vaccines.

She also explained that the epidemiology of Mpox differed from country to country, and that Central and West Africa were worse among children due to existing humanitarian crises there.

She said any procurement of vaccines would be guided by the epidemiological pattern and context of particular countries.

Dr Bataringaya said WHO has urged countries that had stockpiled Mpox vaccines to share them, especially for emergency use, and that pharmaceuticals had also been encouraged to manufacture more.

For his part, Minister of Heath, Honourable Dr Edwin Dikoloti said during COVID-19, the country secured vaccines through various avenues such as WHO as well as direct self-sourcing. He said self-sourcing yielded better results and that if push came to shove, they would go the same route again. "We believe that it is now time that we also test vaccines here,” he said, adding that experience had taught them that countries where vaccines were tested tended to benefit first if the vaccine was given the green light.

Dr Dikoloti also urged the media to help fight fake news. Ends