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European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations
  • News article
  • 3 September 2024
  • Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO)
  • 1 min read

EU provides humanitarian aid and experts to support mpox response in Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo

IFRC and Democratic Republic of the Congo staff and volunteers talk at a briefing session sitting outside a building.
© IFRC (photographer: Alioune Ndiaye)

In response to the transmission of mpox cases from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to neighbouring countries, the European Commission is providing extra humanitarian funding to assist the Burundi Red Cross in preparing to and respond to the mpox epidemic. The funding of €200,000 will help disease surveillance and case detection, activities in the field of water and sanitation, as well as health and hygiene promotion at community level.

This comes in addition to the €1 million in humanitarian aid already announced by Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarcic for DRC this year to support the prevention of mpox within refugee camps and host populations in the vicinity of Goma. 

The EU is already providing up to €100 million in humanitarian assistance in 2024 inside the DRC covering multiple areas of support, such as to provide food assistance and nutrition, shelter, protection, healthcare as well as measures to improve water, sanitation and hygiene conditions.

Furthermore, in cooperation with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), 2 epidemiologists from the Commission are being deployed to the DRC, which is the epicentre of this epidemic with 92% of the total cases in the Africa region. 

This support follows the Commission’s agreement to procure and donate 215,420 mpox vaccine doses to African countries, as an immediate response to the outbreak in Africa. The Commission's Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA) also announced a €3.5 million grant to improve access to mpox diagnostics and sequencing in the region.

Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides has also reached out to EU Health Ministers regarding plans to donate vaccines and therapeutics. She stressed the need for coordination and underlined the importance of solidarity in tackling global health threats and the readiness of the Commission to coordinate bilateral donations.

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