Taking reference of vaccines’ pivotal role to control the mpox outbreak which was declared a public health emergency by both the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF has been in ongoing discussions with manufacturers about the need for effective diagnostics and has asked manufacturers of Mpox In-Vitro-Diagnostics (IVDs) to submit an expression of interest for Emergency Use Listing (EUL).
The UNICEF tender is issued to help secure mpox vaccines for the hardest hit countries in collaboration with Africa CDC, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, WHO, the Pan American Health Organization and other partners.
Mpox is an illness caused by the monkeypox virus, a species of the genus Orthopoxvirus, that can be transmitted to humans through contacts with someone who is infectious, with contaminated materials, or with infected animals.
Depending on demand, production capacity of manufacturers and funding, agreements for up to 12 million doses through 2025 can be put in place.
This collaboration to increase access and timely allocation also includes working together to facilitate donations of vaccines from existing stockpiles in high-income countries with the aim of containing the ongoing transmission of mpox.
Since 2022, WHO has delivered around 150 000 diagnostic tests for Mpox globally, of which over a quarter have gone to countries in the African Region. However, WHO plans to deliver nearly 30 000 tests to African countries soon.
More than 18,000 suspected cases of mpox, including 629 deaths (Four out of five deaths have been in children) have been reported this year in the Democratic Republic of the Congo which is at the epicentre of the crisis the demand for diagnostic tests is on the rise.
In this heavily affected country, WHO has worked with partners to scale up diagnostic capacity to respond to the upsurge of cases.
Across more than 190 countries and territories, UNICEF works for every child, everywhere, to build a better world for everyone. It is the world’s largest single vaccine buyer, procuring more than 2 billion doses of vaccines annually for routine child immunization and outbreak response on behalf of nearly 100 countries.
Since its inception in 2000, Gavi has helped to immunize over 1 billion children and prevented more than 17.3 million future deaths, helping to halve child mortality in 78 lower-income countries is a public-private partnership that helps vaccinate more than half the world’s children against some of the world’s deadliest diseases.
