Widespread illness, deaths go unnoticed as monkeypox continues to spread in Africa

Congo is enduring a monkeypox outbreak, leaving people ill and dying. Without a vaccine or quick access to health facilities, monkeypox cases will continue to spike.

The children have monkeypox, a disease first detected in Congo 50 years ago, but cases of which have spiked in West and Central Africa since 2019. The illness received little attention until it spread worldwide this year, infecting 77,000 people.

Global health bodies have counted far fewer cases in Africa during the current outbreak than in Europe and the United States, which snapped up the limited number of vaccines this year when the illness arrived at their shores.