Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, the organization’s regional director for Africa, revealed this during a virtual press briefing titled “Road to defeating Meningitis by 2030.”

According to Moeti, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ghana, and Nigeria have the majority of cases of monkeypox.

She said, “For monkeypox, there are now 524 confirmed cases and 12 deaths across 11 African countries.

“The majority of cases are in Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Ghana. Six of the 12 deaths occurred in Nigeria, four in Ghana, and two in Central African Republic.

“Although no single monkeypox vaccine has been administered to any high-risk group in any of the African countries reporting cases, WHO has provided 39,000 test kits to countries, enabling improved testing rates.”

Monkeypox is a rare viral zoonotic infectious disease (i.e. an infection transmitted from animals to humans) that occurs sporadically, primarily in remote villages of Central and West Africa, near tropical rainforests.

According to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, the exact reservoir of monkeypox is unknown although African rodents are suspected to play a part in transmission.

The latest data from the NCDC showed that as of August 14, there were 530 suspected cases with 220 confirmed cases in the country.