With the new cases now in the free state as well as Eastern Cape, how worried should South Africans be?

Look, there's no need for public to panic.

All that we need to do is to remain vigilant of impacts like symptoms.

No fatality has been recorded, but we cannot lower our guard and wait for someone to lose life from this preventable and treatable disease.

It is a disease which someone can still recover even without receiving medical attention but we're only worried about those who are already living with other comorbidities like HIV or TB, diabetes and so forth because Their immune system is compromised, meaning that they are weakened.

Any form of infection or disease can really cause a serious health complication.

Since we want to appeal to the listeners of SFN and South Africans in general to say, if you experience any impacts related to signs and symptoms, Do not try to self-treat, self-diagnose.

What is the current situation regarding Mpox vaccines in South Africa? Do we have enough and who would be prioritized if vaccination is required?

who

are close contacts of those who tested positive.

then we give the vaccine so that they do not get transmitted with this disease.

So this is one of the challenges that they were experiencing, the issue of stigma.

Hence, we want to call upon all those who are living with friends, family members, community members who tested positive of mFlox to say, let's support them, let's create an enabling environment for them to openly communicate their concerns so that they get supported.

But because once you start discriminating, stigmatizing them, now you are making it difficult even for those who display or experience signs and symptoms to come forward so that they can get treatment, they can get health screened and tested so we can prevent the further spread of this preventable disease.

Only if we work together, we support each other so that for those who are suspects of this preventable disease, then they can openly come forward.

But what are we looking for before we start visiting our health care professionals?

So who qualifies for vaccination and can you put on record whether you have enough doses to contain a significantly larger outbreak?

Yes, we have got, look, there are different cases for the vaccine is for prevention.

So how do we use vaccine? We use vaccine to vaccinate those who come into close contact with those who tested positive.

For example, if you test positive, we will have to vaccinate your colleagues.

We have to vaccinate your family members that you stay with at home.

and other close people that you say if you go to church say let's vaccinate some of the church members this that's that's meant for vaccine to prevent further spread but for those who tested positive it will depend on the severity of of the case if the case is severe then we use this treatment called techo environment but for those who experience a mild complications even through antibiotics were able to contain this cell to heal or to treat these cases for so there are different types but we say for those who experience serious health complications we have got this treatment and work closely with the world at the organization which assisted us to secure this very scary treatment somewhere in the world precisely because mpox is not endemic in most countries mean that it's not commonly found in most countries therefore manufacturers of these vaccines and treatment they won't make a lot of profit if they produce more while the disease that they're treating it is not endemic it's not commonly found in most countries but through the assistance of the wireless organization they managed to to secure this limited vaccine but people must not worry about the limitation of the vaccine Well, I do

And just finally then, if cases continue rising at the current pace and you've indicated that you're concerned that it might, what would be your trigger for escalating the response beyond contact tracing and targeted vaccination?

Then we'll have to, it also will have to, because our decisions, our activities are informed by the outcomes of the surveillance, the pattern of transmission.

okay and what have you noticed

Yeah, we've noticed in the past four weeks a sudden rise in the positive laboratory cases of this preventable disease, especially around the city of Cape Town in the Western Cape where we detected a number of cases within a short space of time.

So that's why now as the Department of Health working with other stakeholders like your NICD, the World Health Organization.

We had to meet with the Western Cape government to say, we see the rise in this in terms of the laboratory testing.

What could be the problem? Then we immediately activated what we call contact tracing after fewer cases tested positive to say, let's try to identify other people who were in close contact with these people.

And we tested them because they displayed similar symptoms.

They just came back positive.

Okay, and anything in particular that people should be looking out for?

Okay, and what have you noticed?

Yeah, we've noticed in the past four weeks a sudden rise in the positive laboratory cases of this disease.

preventable disease, especially around the city of Cape Town in the Western Cape, where we detected a number of cases within a short space of time.

So that's why now as the Department of Health working with other stakeholders, like your NICD, the World Health Organization.

We had to meet with the Western Cape government to say, we see the rise in this in terms of the laboratory testing.

What could be the problem? Then we immediately activated what we call contact tracing after fewer cases tested positive to say, let's try to identify other people who were in close contact with these people.

And we tested them because they displayed similar symptoms.

Okay, and anything in particular that people should be looking out for?

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Deputy Minister of Health Dr. Joe Padla will lead the African Traditional Medicine Commemorative Day in Bumalanga Province.

This event aims to raise awareness about the critical role that indigenous healing practices and herbal medicine play in healthcare across the African continent.

recognizes the significance of traditional medicine and advocates for its integration into formal health systems in order to enhance health care accessibility and efficacy.

African Traditional Medicine Day is commemorative annually on the last day of August to recognize the vital role that traditional healing practices play in community health care.