TAMESNA: After African countries struggled to get testing kits during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials vowed to make the continent less dependent on imported medical supplies. Now, in a first for Africa, a Moroccan company is filling orders for mpox tests as an outbreak continues.
Moroccan startup Moldiag began developing mpox tests after the World Health Organization declared the virus a global emergency in August. Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 59,000 mpox cases and 1,164 deaths in 20 countries this year.
The WHO has also announced a plan to provide mpox tests, vaccines and treatments to the most vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries, after facing criticism for moving too slowly on vaccines. It recommends all suspected mpox cases be tested.
But in some far-flung areas of the mpox outbreak, tests have to be delivered to distant labs for processing. Most of Congo’s 26 provinces don’t have such facilities. And some areas have no tests. In eastern Congo’s South Kivu province, doctors are still diagnosing patients by taking temperatures and looking for visible symptoms.
That makes it difficult to tell how the virus is spreading, health officials say.
“This is a major problem,” said Musole Robert, medical director of the Kavumu Referral Hospital, one of the few treating mpox patients in eastern Congo. “The main issue remains the laboratory, which is not adequately equipped.”
Mpox primarily spreads through close skin-to-skin contact with infected people or their soiled clothes or bedsheets. It often causes visible skin lesions. A health worker swabs the rash and sends the sample to a lab. Mpox testing is critical because many symptoms resemble diseases like chicken pox or measles.
When mpox cases were found in some Western countries like the United States in 2022, some companies began developing rapid test kits that don’t require lab processing. But they shelved those efforts when the virus was largely contained.
Then outbreaks emerged again in Africa. Scientists are concerned by the spread of a new version of the disease that might be more easily transmitted among people.
Morocco has reported three mpox cases, though most have been in central Africa.
At his factory in Morocco, Moldiag founder and chief scientific officer Abdeladim Moumen said the tests they make — sold for $5 each — can help to remedy shortages affordably.
The company last month began accepting orders from Burundi, Uganda and Congo and has also sold them to Senegal and Nigeria as well.
“It’s rather easy to send tests from an African nation to another one rather than waiting for tests to come in from China or Europe,” Moumen said.
Moldiag was founded out of Morocco’s Foundation for Advanced Science, Innovation and Research, a university-affiliated nonprofit whose research has received funding from the European Commission and Morocco’s government. The startup previously developed similar genetic tests for COVID-19 and tuberculosis.
Moldiag won approval to distribute its mpox tests from the Africa CDC in November. But it hasn’t submitted paperwork to be considered for expedited approval from the WHO, which during this outbreak has approved three mpox tests and is considering five others. Each is made in North America, Europe or Asia.
The Africa CDC’s acting director for laboratory diagnostics and systems, Yenew Tebeje, said the organization created a process to accelerate approval of tests like Moldiag’s because the WHO’s approval process can take months or years and “be a limiting factor for access to diagnostics.”
Historically, international institutions have not always ensured medical supplies like tests are quickly made available for crises in Africa, Tebeje added.
Only mpox tests that require laboratory processing have been approved by the WHO and Africa CDC, which has expressed the need for rapid tests that don’t need to be sent to labs.
Moldiag and other companies are working to develop rapid tests and pursue approval.
Moldiag’s $5 price for the current tests aligns with recommendations from both the WHO’s target product standards and demands of health advocates who have criticized the cost of other tests. The nonprofit Public Citizen last month called on Cepheid — one of the WHO’s three approved mpox test manufacturers — to reduce its price from about $20 to $5, citing a Doctors Without Borders analysis showing genetic tests can be produced for less.
Africa-based manufacturing fulfills a primary objective that African Union member states agreed on after the COVID-19 pandemic, which revealed global disparities and unequal access to medical supplies, including vaccines, tests and antiviral medications.
In 2022, shaken by the pandemic, African leaders called for action to address those disparities plaguing the continent’s over 1.4 billion people, who experience the highest incidence of public health emergencies.
Moumen said experts were waking up to the fact that it makes more sense for tests to come from regions where outbreaks are taking place so manufacturers can tailor production to address issues close to home.
“They want African tests for Africa,” he said.
Morocco produces Africa’s first mpox tests as the continent tries to rely less on imports
https://arab.news/num3c
Morocco produces Africa’s first mpox tests as the continent tries to rely less on imports
- Morocco has reported three mpox cases, though most have been in central Africa
- Moroccan startup Moldiag began developing mpox tests after the World Health Organization declared the virus a global emergency in August
At least 100,000 bodies in Syrian mass grave, US advocacy group head says
- Assad and his father Hafez, who preceded him as president and died in 2000, are accused by Syrians, rights groups and other governments of widespread extrajudicial killings, including mass executions within the country’s notorious prison system
WASHINGTON: The head of a US-based Syrian advocacy organization on Monday said that a mass grave outside of Damascus contained the bodies of at least 100,000 people killed by the former government of ousted President Bashar Assad.
Mouaz Moustafa, speaking to Reuters in a telephone interview from Damascus, said the site at al Qutayfah, 25 miles (40 km) north of the Syrian capital, was one of five mass graves that he had identified over the years.
“One hundred thousand is the most conservative estimate” of the number of bodies buried at the site, said Moustafa, head of the Syrian Emergency Task Force. “It’s a very, very extremely almost unfairly conservative estimate.”
Moustafa said that he is sure there are more mass graves than the five sites, and that along with Syrians victims included US and British citizens and other foreigners.
Reuters was unable to confirm Moustafa’s allegations.
Hundreds of thousands of Syrians are estimated to have been killed since 2011, when Assad’s crackdown on protests against his rule grew into a full-scale civil war.
Assad and his father Hafez, who preceded him as president and died in 2000, are accused by Syrians, rights groups and other governments of widespread extrajudicial killings, including mass executions within the country’s notorious prison system.
Assad repeatedly denied that his government committed human rights violations and painted his detractors as extremists.
Syria’s UN Ambassador Koussay Aldahhak did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He assumed the role in January — while Assad was still in power — but told reporters last week that he was awaiting instructions from the new authorities and would “keep defending and working for the Syrian people.”
Moustafa arrived in Syria after Assad flew to Russia and his government collapsed in the face of a lightning offensive by rebels that ended his family’s more than 50 years of iron-fisted rule.
He spoke to Reuters after he was interviewed at the site in al Qutayfah by Britain’s Channel 4 News for a report on the alleged mass grave there.
He said the intelligence branch of the Syrian air force was “in charge of bodies going from military hospitals, where bodies were collected after they’d been tortured to death, to different intelligence branches, and then they would be sent to a mass grave location.”
Corpses also were transported to sites by the Damascus municipal funeral office whose personnel helped unload them from refrigerated tractor-trailers, he said.
“We were able to talk to the people who worked on these mass graves that had on their own escaped Syria or that we helped to escape,” said Moustafa.
His group has spoken to bulldozer drivers compelled to dig graves and “many times on orders, squished the bodies down to fit them in and then cover them with dirt,” he said.
Moustafa expressed concern that graves sites were unsecured and said they needed to be preserved to safeguard evidence for investigations.
Syria’s Jolani says rebel factions to be ‘disbanded’, calls for lifting sanctions
- “Syria must remain united, and there must be a social contract between the state and all religions to guarantee social justice,” said Jolani
DAMASCUS: The leader of the Islamist group that toppled Bashar Assad said Monday that rebel factions in war-torn Syria would be “disbanded” and their fighters placed under the defense ministry, and called for sanctions to be lifted so refugees can return.
Syrian president Assad was toppled by a lightning 11-day rebel offensive spearheaded by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham group (HTS), whose fighters and allies swept down from northwest Syria and entered the capital on December 8.
HTS leader Abu Mohammed Al-Jolani said Monday on the group’s Telegram channel that all the rebel factions “would “be disbanded and the fighters trained to join the ranks of the defense ministry.”
“All will be subject to the law,” said Jolani, who now uses his real name, Ahmed Al-Sharaa.
He also emphasized the need for unity in a country home to different ethnic minority groups and religions, while speaking to members of the Druze community — a branch of Shiite Islam making up about 3 percent of Syria’s pre-war population.
“Syria must remain united,” he said. “There must be a social contract between the state and all religions to guarantee social justice.”
Several countries and organizations have welcomed Assad’s fall but said they were waiting to see how the new authorities would treat minorities in the country.
During a second meeting with a delegation of British diplomats, the HTS leader also spoke “of the importance of restoring relations” with London.
He stressed the need to end “all sanctions imposed on Syria so that Syrian refugees can return to their country,” according to remarks reported on his group’s Telegram channel.
HTS is rooted in Syria’s branch of Al-Qaeda and proscribed as a terrorist organization by many Western governments, though it has sought to moderate its rhetoric.
Since the toppling of Assad, it has insisted that the rights of all Syrians will be protected.
UN chief welcomes aid commitments by new Syrian authorities
- Guterres called on the international community to rally behind the Syrian people as they “seize the opportunity to build a better future”
UNITED NATIONS: United Nations aid chief Tom Fletcher met with the commander of Syria’s new administration, Ahmed Al-Sharaa, and newly appointed Prime Minister Mohammed Al-Bashir on Monday to discuss scaling up humanitarian assistance in the country.
Following Fletcher’s meeting, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said in a statement that he welcomed the caretaker government’s commitment to protect civilians, including humanitarian workers.
“I also welcome their agreement to grant full humanitarian access through all border crossings; cut through bureaucracy over permits and visas for humanitarian workers; ensure the continuity of essential government services, including health and education; and engage in genuine and practical dialogue with the wider humanitarian community,” Guterres said.
Syria’s Bashar Assad was ousted after insurgent forces led by the Islamist Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham swept through Syria in a lightning offensive, ending more than 50 years of iron-fisted rule by his family.
Guterres called on the international community to rally behind the Syrian people as they “seize the opportunity to build a better future.” The United Nations says seven in 10 people in Syria continue to need humanitarian aid.
Fletcher also plans to visit Lebanon, Turkiye and Jordan, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said. (Reporting by Michelle Nichols Editing by Bill Berkrot)
US strikes Houthi command and control facility in Yemen
- The Yemeni rebels say their attacks — a significant international security challenge that threatens a major shipping lane — are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza
WASHINGTON: American forces carried out an air strike on Monday against a Houthi command and control facility that was used by the Yemeni rebels to coordinate attacks, the US military said.
The Houthis began striking ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden in November 2023, part of the region-wide fallout from Israel’s devastating war in Gaza, which militant groups in multiple countries have cited as justification for attacks.
“The targeted facility was a hub for coordinating Houthi operations, such as attacks against US Navy warships and merchant vessels in the southern Red Sea and Gulf of Aden,” the US Central Command (CENTCOM) said in a statement.
“The strike reflects CENTCOM’s ongoing commitment to protect US and coalition personnel, regional partners, and international shipping,” it added.
The Yemeni rebels say their attacks — a significant international security challenge that threatens a major shipping lane — are in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Anger over Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the small coastal territory, which began after an unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, has stoked violence involving Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Iraq, Syria and Yemen.
The United States and other countries have deployed military vessels to help shield shipping from the Houthi strikes, and the rebels have periodically launched attacks targeting American military ships.
Washington’s forces have also carried out frequent air strikes on the Houthis in a bid to degrade their ability to target shipping and have sought to seize weapons before they reach the rebels, but their attacks have persisted.
US-brokered ceasefire fails between Kurdish and Turkiye-backed forces in Syria
- Shami blamed the collapse of the mediation on “Turkiye’s approach in dealing with the mediation efforts and its evasion to accept key points”
CAIRO: Syrian US-backed Kurdish Syrian forces (SDF) said U.S-brokered mediation efforts failed to reach a permanent ceasefire with Syria’s Turkiye-backed rebels in the northern cities of Manbij and Kobani, according to head of the SDF’s media center Farhad Shami on Monday.
Shami blamed the collapse of the mediation on “Turkiye’s approach in dealing with the mediation efforts and its evasion to accept key points.”
The Turks are not happy about the ceasefire deal and Turkiye prefers to keep maximum pressure on SDF, a Syrian opposition source told Reuters.
Last week, the SDF said they reached a ceasefire agreement with the Turkiye-backed rebels in Manbij through US mediation “to ensure the safety and security of civilians.”
