Along the southern banks of the Congo River lies a group of villages in the Mpouya district. This is where Roch Boetou-Kadilamio, Disaster Management Coordinator for the Congolese Red Cross (CRC), noticed a woman displaying possible signs of mpox in early February.
“She was interacting with other community members as she waited for her turn to receive household items distributed by CRC to families displaced by recent floods,” Roch explains.
Many African states, including the Republic of Congo, have weak healthcare systems characterised by inadequate surveillance, diagnostics and patient-care facilities to effectively and efficiently control the spread of diseases, including the recent sharp increase in mpox cases in many countries.
The Republic of Congo shares a more than 1,700-kilometre-long border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) – the current epicentre of the mpox – leaving it at very high risk of imported cases.
For this reason, the IFRC has taken a regional approach, launching an emergency appeal in August 2024 to fund operations across numerous countries already impacted by mpox or that are stepping up prevention measures in hopes of limiting the disease’s spread.
Being on the ground in the village and trained to monitor risks allowed Rock to identify the suspected mpox case and report it forward to health authorities for follow-up and mitigation efforts. This was possible due to a Disaster Risk Reduction programme implemented by CRC in partnership with the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), which aims to strengthen the capacity of communities to anticipate, respond to and quickly recover from disasters.
“We train communities to be aware of potential risks, including health risks, detect them early, and seek help timely to reduce further spread of disease and deaths,” said Dr. Lambert Boteya Djoke, Head of Health and Social Action for the CRC.
Through a network of local and trusted community volunteers, with support from the CRC staff, volunteers send alerts to national health information systems via local health centres. Alerts can also be sent to the Congolese Red Cross headquarters using a toll-free telephone number.
“For the woman at the distribution centre who was suspected to have mpox, we quickly alerted the nearest health centre but also the health authorities, including the Ministry of Health,” explained Lambert. “They swiftly visited the site together with a team from the World Health Organisation, took samples for testing and once confirmed positive, and followed up with other measures.”
The Congolese Red Cross, as an auxiliary to the government, is actively supporting authorities in preparing for and responding to the mpox outbreak. Given its extensive volunteer network of more than 30,000 community volunteers across the country, of which 15,000 can be rapidly mobilized, CRC supports in reaching the most vulnerable and remote communities with critical information to mitigate and prevent the spread of mpox.
“We have communities who live in the forests who cannot easily access public information,” said Nadège Blandine Mabika, the CRC’s focal point Community Engagement and Accountability, Gender and Inclusion, and National Society Development. “We also have communities by the river who routinely cross the border into DRC for trade, medical care and other essential services unchecked. All these communities need to be reached if we are to control the spread of mpox.”
Facing a surging disease outbreak with patterns that are evolving and not yet adequately understood, the Congolese Red Cross, along with the entire IFRC regional network, remains committed to preventing, controlling and responding to the mpox outbreak for as long as needed.
