The situation in the seven or so nations inside Africa affected by this 2024 Mpox outbreak is improving — now that vaccines are being administered in ring fashion, to be sure. And this outbreak is not nearly as lethal as the current Marburg’s virus outbreak is, nor as any ebola flare up. But still, it afflicts primarily the very young, and runs at an about 10% mortality rate, now. So it is an urgent concern.

The prevailing thought among health care practitioners is that older people (age 30 and above, in Africa) likely acquired some mpox immunity, by virtue of being vaccinated against small pox, decades ago. The youngest (under age 10) in Africa remain largely unvaccinated, and are thus more susceptible to Mpox. Or so the common wisdom holds. In any event, here’s the latest good news, from the EU Commissioner for International Partnerships:

. . .Jutta Urpilainen, European Commissioner for International Partnerships, has announced an additional €20 million funding towards the fight against Mpox outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). This additional funding contributes to the DRC’s Mpox response and supports preparedness against epidemics as part of the EU’s objective to support the strengthening of health systems in Africa. Commissioner Urpilainen discussed the new announcement and coordination needed to tackle Mpox outbreaks with Director-General of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), H.E. Dr. Jean Kaseya….

The additional funding for the DRC complements the 215,000 doses of mpox vaccines donated by HERA to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) to address the current crisis across the African continent as well as the 365,000 doses of mpox vaccine donated by Team Europe.

“We are committed to tackle health crises and increase resilience together with the African partners. This is a joint mission to improve global health security. The additional funding of €20 million comes on to previous support and vaccine donations by the EU and its Member States.” — Jutta Urpilainen, EU Commissioner for International Partnerships

The funding announced today is part of a coordinated response by the EU towards strengthening the preparedness and response capacities for both current and future health emergencies in affected countries. Team Europe is a lead investor in global health initiatives such as the Pandemic Fund which is fast-tracking funds for enhanced laboratory capacity, surveillance and detection of the virus, and the training of emergency workforce for vaccinations.

The new funds will contribute to tackling both the current and future health emergencies in a coordinated intervention with partners such as the WHO and affected countries….

This is clearly a welcome step — but in Africa, both on Marburg and Mpox — and public health generally but (with prophylactic vaccine programs running decades behind)… much more work is needed. And much more funding, obviously.

[And equally obviously, the Powerline boys have nothing useful, or even interesting to say any longer… with Tangerine spending about 40 minutes… staring vacantly into space at his “town hall”, and bobbing his head — while classical arias blare at high-volume. The ancient reprobate coot has… completely lost it.]

As has Elon Musk — despite his chopsticks success over the weekend past. Onward.

नमस्ते