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Congo Authorities Request Mpox Vaccines from Japan

A patient has his temperature taken at the Mpox treatment center at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital, north of Goma on August 17, 2024. (AFP)
A patient has his temperature taken at the Mpox treatment center at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital, north of Goma on August 17, 2024. (AFP)
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Congo Authorities Request Mpox Vaccines from Japan

A patient has his temperature taken at the Mpox treatment center at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital, north of Goma on August 17, 2024. (AFP)
A patient has his temperature taken at the Mpox treatment center at Nyiragongo General Referral Hospital, north of Goma on August 17, 2024. (AFP)

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has requested Japan for supplies of mpox vaccines and syringes amid the worst outbreaks of the disease in the central African country.

Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare is preparing to provide the supplies to the DRC, in cooperation with the World Health Organization and other partners, it said in an emailed statement to Reuters on Monday.

The ministry "intends to provide as much support as possible", Masano Tsuzuki, section chief of its division of infectious disease prevention and control, said.

Japan-based KM Biologics is one of the manufacturers of an mpox vaccine. Denmark's Bavarian Nordic makes another vaccine, called Jynneos, for the disease. Japan holds a stockpile of the KM Biologics vaccine.

Outside clinical trials, neither of the shots have ever been available in Congo or across Africa, where the disease has been endemic for decades.

Last week, the WHO declared mpox a global public health emergency for the second time in two years as the outbreak in DRC spread to neighboring countries.

Mpox, a viral infection that causes pus-filled lesions and flu-like symptoms, is usually mild but can kill. Two strains are now spreading in Congo — the endemic form of the virus, clade I, and a new offshoot called clade Ib.

The virus transmits through close physical contact, including sexual contact, but unlike previous global pandemics such as COVID-19 there is no evidence it spreads easily through the air.

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Heavy Rains Hit Pakistan’s South as This Monsoon’s Death Toll Rises to 209

A family displaced by flood, carry their belongings as they wade through floodwaters after heavy monsoon rains at Sohbatpur in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province on August 19, 2024. (AFP)
A family displaced by flood, carry their belongings as they wade through floodwaters after heavy monsoon rains at Sohbatpur in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province on August 19, 2024. (AFP)
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Heavy Rains Hit Pakistan’s South as This Monsoon’s Death Toll Rises to 209

A family displaced by flood, carry their belongings as they wade through floodwaters after heavy monsoon rains at Sohbatpur in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province on August 19, 2024. (AFP)
A family displaced by flood, carry their belongings as they wade through floodwaters after heavy monsoon rains at Sohbatpur in Jaffarabad district, Balochistan province on August 19, 2024. (AFP)

Flash floods triggered by monsoon rains swept through streets in southern Pakistan and blocked a key highway in the north, officials said Monday, as the death toll from rain-related incidents rose to 209 since July 1.

Fourteen people died across Punjab province in the past 24 hours, said Irfan Ali, an official at the provincial disaster management authority. Most of the other deaths have occurred in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh provinces.

Pakistan's annual monsoon season runs from July through September. Scientists and weather forecasters have blamed climate change for heavier rains in recent years. In 2022, climate-induced downpours inundated one-third of the country, killing 1,739 people and causing $30 billion in damage.

Zaheer Ahmed Babar, a senior official with the Pakistan Meteorological Department, said the latest spell of heavy rains will continue this week in parts of the country. The downpour in southern Pakistan has flooded streets in Sukkur district of Sindh province.

Authorities said efforts were underway to clear the key Karakorum highway in the north of landslides. Flash floods have also damaged some bridges in the north, disrupting traffic.

The government advised tourists to avoid affected areas.

More than 2,200 homes have been damaged across Pakistan since July 1, when the monsoon rains began, the National Disaster Management Authority said.

Neighboring Afghanistan also has had rains and flood-related damage since May, with more than 80 people killed. On Sunday, three people died when their vehicle was washed away by floods in Ghazni, according to provincial police.