4 October 2024 Press releases

Additional resources for the Institute of Tropical Medicine in the fight against Mpox

The funds can be used to launch a vaccination campaign in the hardest-hit areas.

The Institute of Tropical Medicine (ITM) in Antwerp is receiving an additional 2 million euros in funding from the Belgian Directorate-General for Development Cooperation and Humanitarian Aid (DGD) to strengthen research and control efforts against the mpox virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). A new variant of the mpox virus, Clade Ib, recently emerged in several African countries and was detected outside Africa for the first time on 15 August, 2024, in Sweden, raising fears of global spread.

With the new resources, ITM and the Congolese National Institute of Biomedical Research (INRB) can launch a vaccination campaign in the hardest-hit areas. ITM will also study the effectiveness of the vaccine against the new variant. Both institutes have decades of expertise and have been working together since 2020 on the MBOTE project. MBOTE stands for 'Mpox, Biology, Outcome, Transmission, and Epidemiology'.

Vaccination campaign rollout

The first goal of the project is the rollout of a pilot vaccination campaign in South Kivu, the epicenter of the outbreak. This campaign aims to demonstrate whether large-scale vaccination campaigns in the DRC and surrounding countries are feasible.

“With this additional funding, we can urgently address the looming outbreak in South Kivu. Our goal is to vaccinate at least 10,000 people, which amounts to 20,000 vaccine doses,” says Laurens Liesenborghs, an expert in emerging infectious diseases at ITM. “The region has a high population density, a large sex industry, and significant border traffic. This makes the situation concerning. Without swift action, the risk of international spread is high,” he adds.

Local research leads to global insights

Insights from local outbreaks are crucial to protecting other regions. Due to globalisation and climate change, outbreaks are increasingly less confined to local areas, allowing diseases to spread globally, as seen during the 2022 mpox outbreak. At that time, ITM utilised its years of mpox research expertise to help control the outbreak in Belgium.

“This investment underscores the importance of international cooperation in addressing global health challenges,” says outgoing Minister for Development Cooperation, Frank Vandenbroucke. “By strengthening local expertise and international collaboration, we can not only improve the health situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but also protect Belgium and the rest of the world.”

201% more victims compared to last year

According to figures from the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), since January 2024, 34,297 cases of mpox have been reported, with 866 fatalities. This is an increase of 201% compared to the same period last year. On 13 August, 2024, Africa CDC declared the situation a public health emergency of international concern. The following day, the World Health Organization issued a global declaration. All African regions have been affected by this outbreak. On 15 August, the first case of the new variant was confirmed outside Africa, in Sweden.

Curious about our fight against mpox?

In Transmission, our award-winning podcast, Laurens Liesenborghs takes you deep into the rainforest and talks about the challenges he and his Congolese colleagues faced while researching mpox.

Listen now

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