GENEVA, August 21. /TASS/. The UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration (IOM) has called on the international community to provide $18.5 mln to implement a plan on fighting the spread of mpox, previously known as monkeypox.

"The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is appealing for USD 18.5 million to provide crucial health-care services to migrants, internally displaced persons (IDPs), and host communities in East, Horn, and Southern Africa at risk of mpox," the organization said in a statement on its website.

"The spread of mpox across East, Horn, and Southern Africa is a grave concern, especially for the vulnerable migrant, highly mobile populations and displaced communities often overlooked in such crises," said IOM Director General Amy Pope. "We must act swiftly to protect those at the highest risk and to mitigate the impact of this outbreak on the region," she added.

Against this background, the agency has developed a plan providing for measures to prevent the spread of mpox among migrants, identify "high-risk areas" and "build the capacity of national health-care workers and front-line responders."

The IOM reiterated that "to date, there are over 15,000 suspected cases in Democratic Republic of the Congo alone, including 537 deaths, according to the World Health Organization." Other cases of this infection have been confirmed in Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.

About virus

Mpox is a rare viral disease which is endemic to remote regions near tropical forests of Central and Western Africa. Its symptoms include fever, rash, headaches, sore throat, muscle aches, swollen lymph nodes, and back aches. The first case of the animal-to-human transmission of this disease was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this virus is usually transmitted to humans by wild animals, such as rodents and primates, while its secondary spread among humans is limited. Usually the lethality coefficient during mpox outbreaks ranges from 1% to 10% with the majority of fatalities in the younger age groups.

Earlier, WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared mpox a public health emergency of international concern.