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

In response to the transmission of mpox cases from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to neighbouring countries, the European Commission is providing additional humanitarian funding to help the Burundian Red Cross prepare for and respond to the mpox outbreak. The €200,000 funding will support disease surveillance and case detection, water and sanitation activities, and health and hygiene promotion at community level.

This support comes on top of the €1 million in humanitarian aid already announced this year by Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič to support smallpox prevention in refugee camps and among host populations around Goma.

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

In addition, in cooperation with the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), two Commission epidemiologists are deployed in the DRC, which is the epicentre of this outbreak with 92% of the total cases in the Africa region.

This support follows the Commission's agreement to purchase and donate 215,420 doses of MPOX vaccine 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 €3.5m grant to improve access to MPOX diagnostics and sequencing in the region.

Health and Food Safety Commissioner Stella Kyriakides (pictured) also contacted EU health ministers on plans to donate vaccines and treatments. She stressed the need for coordination and underlined the importance of solidarity in tackling global health threats, as well as the Commission's willingness to coordinate bilateral donations.

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