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Health Minister Selibe Mochboroane said the government was making a concerted effort to protect the Basotho people from the pox virus.
Mr Mojoborona said the move was to improve the country’s preparedness in the event of the virus entering Lesotho.
Mr Mojoborone spoke at the National Assembly sitting on Tuesday afternoon.
He said Lesotho’s current preparedness level for an outbreak is 46 per cent, while Africa’s level is 52 per cent.
While Lesotho has not reported any cases of Mpox, South Africa has reported 24 cases of the disease and three deaths this year in Gauteng, Mpumalanga and the Western Cape. Lesotho is completely surrounded by South Africa.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO), monkeypox (Mpox) is a viral disease caused by the monkeypox virus (a member of the genus Orthopoxvirus).
Common symptoms of Mpox are a rash or mucous membrane lesions that can last two to four weeks, along with fever, headache, muscle pain, back pain, lack of energy, and swollen lymph nodes.
According to WHO, “Smallpox can be transmitted to humans through physical contact with infected people, contaminated materials or infected animals. Treatment of smallpox is supportive care. Vaccines and treatments have been developed for smallpox and are licensed for use in some countries and can be used to treat smallpox in certain circumstances. Smallpox can be prevented by avoiding physical contact with people who have smallpox. Vaccination can help prevent infection in people at high risk.”
Between 2022 and 2023, an outbreak of Mpox occurred around the world, caused by a pathogen calledClade IIbThe World Health Organization said.
Meanwhile, Mojoborone said the Director-General of WHO has declared the global surge in Mpox cases a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC). Dr Tedros said, but he added that Lesotho’s susceptibility to the disease was moderate.
The Minister further told Parliament that the Ministry of Health will receive recommendations from WHO on how to deal with the disease and will publish them soon. These recommendations will help the country prepare in advance if the disease invades Lesotho.
He further noted that his department is working with other government departments to plan the future way forward on how the country can better respond to this medical emergency.
“The ministries reviewed the country’s vulnerability to Mpox. It was determined that Lesotho’s vulnerability to the disease is medium. Also, during the meeting, the parties assessed the country’s preparedness in the event it is affected by the disease. In this context, we found that our preparedness is 46 per cent, which is lower than the African region to 52 per cent,” Mr Mochoboroane said.
He said the ministries will finalize the oneEmergency Strategic PlanHe said information tools aimed at informing and educating the public about the virus have been completed and distributed to all districts, health centres and different border posts.
Mr Mochoboroane said 200 health workers have been trained on the disease so that they can diagnose and treat it immediately.
Mr Mojoborona also told the National Assembly that Lesotho’s health sector partners have been informed of the pandemic situation in the country and its plans to combat it.
“To date, South Africa has recorded 24 cases of Basotho pox. Basotho people travelling abroad should remain vigilant and follow the guidelines of the Department of Health of the country they visit to avoid contracting and spreading the disease,” he said.
And All Basotho Convention Party Proportional Representation (PR) lawmaker Dr Pinki Manamolela, who served as health minister in former Prime Minister Thomas Thabane’s 2012-2015 coalition government, suggested that Lesotho would be wise to “step up preventive measures”, warning that “if we are not careful, the country could be devastated by the disease”.
She encouraged the Ministry of Health to “apply for funding as soon as possible” before Lesotho “records any case of Mpox”. She said if an outbreak were to occur in Lesotho, “the country would still be able to implement its prevention strategy”.
Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention
On August 13, 2024, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) declared Mpox a public health emergency, in keeping with the Centre’s mandate for responding to major public health threats. The mandate, established by the Executive Committee of the African Union (AU) Assembly in July 2022, authorizes Africa CDC to coordinate responses to epidemics by mobilizing African leaders, governments and relevant institutions.
A total of 40,874 cases and 1,512 deaths have been reported in the 15 AU member states since 2022. In 2024 alone, 17,541 cases and 517 deaths were reported in the 13 AU member states.
In 2024, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) accounted for 96% of all reported cases and 97% of deaths.
Investigations in the Democratic Republic of the Congo suggest that heterosexual transmission, particularly among female sex workers, is the cause of the outbreak. The high infection rate among women has raised concerns about the risk of vertical transmission and adverse pregnancy outcomes.
Other concerns include the high risk of severe infection among people living with HIV, consideration of asymptomatic infection, poor vaccination strategies, limited access to medical countermeasures, and low testing rates.
Cross-border movement, low public awareness, high vulnerability due to factors such as HIV and malnutrition, limited knowledge of Mpox transmission, and inadequate response capacity such as vaccine shortages pose major challenges to controlling Mpox. The risk of Mpox spreading to neighboring countries and globally is high.
Since the virus was first discovered in 1958 and the first case reported in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) in 1970, Mpox has been primarily considered a zoonosis of forested areas in Central Africa, causing limited epidemics in rural areas.
In August 2024, the Africa CDC declared the ongoing Mpox outbreak a PHEIC, the first such declaration by the agency since its establishment in 2017.
This decision highlights the severity of the epidemic.
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