Urgent Call for Aid as Mpox Cases Surge in Sierra Leone

Sierra Leone is facing a rapid increase in mpox infections, with health systems under severe stress as they appeal for international assistance amid funding shortages.

Sierra Leone is in a critical situation as it battles a national outbreak of mpox, with infections now exceeding those reported in the previous year across Africa. Health officials initially implemented a strategy in January to allow mpox patients to be treated at home, hoping this would prevent vulnerable groups from neglecting necessary medical care. Unfortunately, this decision has led to a rapid transmission of the virus in densely populated urban environments, thus intensifying the outbreak across all 16 regions, including the capital, Freetown.

In response to the crisis, the government has established several treatment centers for isolation; however, these facilities are quickly approaching capacity and are severely lacking in vaccine supplies. Efforts to conduct a public health campaign aimed at identifying and monitoring people who may have been exposed to the virus came to a halt in April when the government ran out of funding. The health ministry’s urgent requests for vaccines have seen minimal success.

Dr. Ngashi Ngongo, who oversees the mpox response for the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, summarized the dire conditions by stating, “It’s a weak health system to start with, now worsened also by the fact that we are in the financial crisis with declining development assistance.” Without urgent intervention and support from international partners, the outbreak threatens to overwhelm the health system further and exacerbate an already alarming public health situation.