The increase in mpoxlth system. The scientific community warns, in fact, that the increase in this country is very worrying, especially due to the high number of infections among children. According to WHO data, more than 10,000 children up to the age of 15 were infected in 2024, and 39% of those infected are children under the age of five.
This epidemic represents a great risk for the country, since the population is already very vulnerable. Salesian missionaries working with displaced people in Goma explain their fears: "The displaced people living in the Don Bosco Ngangi camp are very exposed to this new MPOX epidemic. They live in overcrowded conditions and the hygienic conditions are not the most adequate. Our doctors warn that these are people with an already very weak immune system and that an epidemic could have really dangerous effects. "
The alarm has already been raised because four cases of infection have occurred in the health area where the Don Bosco Ngangi centre is located.
"Practices similar to those implemented to combat Covid must be put in place everywhere to avoid contagion"the Salesian missionaries " explain.The epidemic emergency has already been declared, but many people are not yet aware of it and lead their daily lives normally. Awareness and prevention work will be essential to control the smallpox epidemic in monkeys," they say.
The Salesian missionaries manage 33 works in 14 cities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and their priority is the education and protection of children and young people. There are primary and secondary schools, vocational training centres, kindergartens for the youngest, care and recovery centres for street children and girls in vulnerable situations. We also work with displaced populations and in areas where people live in extreme poverty.
Misiones Salesianas, the Salesian Mission Office in Madrid, ensures that it will work together with the missionaries in the country, on three fronts: food security, schooling and health support to protect the children of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
