Morocco produces Africa’s first mpox tests as continent attempts to rely less on imports
TAMESNA, Morocco — After African countries struggled to obtain testing kits during the COVID-19 pandemic, officials pledged to make the continent less dependent on imported medical supplies. Today, a first in Africa, a Moroccan company is fulfilling orders for mpox testing as the outbreak continues.
Moroccan startup Moldiag started developing mpox tests after the World Health Organization declared the virus a global emergency in August. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported more than 59,000 cases of mpox and 1,164 deaths in 20 countries this year.
The WHO also announced a plan to provide mpox testing, vaccines and treatments to the most vulnerable people in the world’s poorest countries, after being criticized for moving too slowly on vaccines. It recommends that all suspected cases of mpox be tested.
But in some remote areas of the mpox epidemic, tests must be delivered to distant laboratories for processing. Most of Congo’s 26 provinces do not have such facilities. And some areas don’t have testing. In Congo’s eastern South Kivu province, doctors continue to diagnose patients by taking temperatures and looking for visible symptoms.
That makes it difficult to determine how the virus spreads, health officials say.
“It’s 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 problem remains the laboratory, which is not sufficiently equipped.”
Mpox is spread primarily through close skin-to-skin contact with infected people or their soiled clothing or sheets. It often causes visible skin lesions. A health worker swabs the rash and sends the sample to a laboratory. Mpox tests are essential because many symptoms resemble illnesses like chickenpox or measles.
When cases of mpox were discovered in some Western countries like the United States in 2022, some companies began developing rapid test kits that do not require laboratory processing. But they abandoned those efforts when the virus was largely contained.
Then epidemics reappeared in Africa. Scientists are concerned about the spread of new version of the disease which could be transmitted more easily between people.
Morocco reported three cases of mpox, although most occurred in central Africa.
At its factory in Morocco, Moldiag founder and scientific director Abdeladim Moumen said the tests they run – sold for $5 apiece – can help address shortages at an affordable price.
The company last month began accepting orders from Burundi, Uganda and Congo and has also sold them to Senegal and Nigeria.
“It is quite easy to send tests from one African country to another rather than waiting for tests to arrive from China or Europe,” Moumen said.
Moldiag was founded by the Moroccan Foundation for Advanced Sciences, Innovation and Research, a university-affiliated non-profit organization whose research has received funding from the European Commission and the Moroccan government. The startup previously developed similar genetic tests for COVID-19 and tuberculosis.
Moldiag obtained authorization to distribute its mpox tests from the Africa CDC in November. But it has not submitted documents for review for accelerated approval from the WHO, which during this outbreak has approved three mpox tests and is considering five more. Each is made in North America, Europe or Asia.
Africa CDC Acting Director for Diagnostics and Laboratory Systems, Yenew Tebeje, said the organization had created a process to expedite the approval of tests like Moldiag’s because the approval process for OMS can take months or years and “be a limiting factor for access to diagnostics”.
Historically, international institutions have not always ensured that medical supplies such as tests are quickly available in the event of a crisis in Africa, Tebeje added.
Only mpox tests requiring laboratory processing have been approved by the WHO and the Africa CDC, which have expressed the need for rapid tests that do not need to be sent to laboratories.
Moldiag and other companies are working to develop rapid tests and gain approval.
Moldiag’s $5 price for the current tests aligns with WHO Target Product Standards recommendations and demands from health advocates who have criticized the cost of other tests. Last month, the nonprofit Public Citizen called on Cepheid — one of three makers of WHO-approved mpox tests — to cut its price from about $20 to $5, citing an analysis by Doctors Without Borders showing that genetic tests can be produced at lower cost.
Africa-based manufacturing serves a primary purpose that African Union member states agreed upon after the COVID-19 pandemic exposed a global situation. disparities And unequal access medical supplies, including vaccines, tests and antiviral medications.
In 2022, shaken by the pandemic, African leaders have called for action to address the disparities plaguing the continent’s more than 1.4 billion people, who experience the highest incidence of public health emergencies.
Moumen said experts were waking up to the fact that it made more sense for tests to come from areas where outbreaks are occurring so manufacturers can adapt their production to address problems close to home.
“They want African tests for Africa,” he said.
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Alonga reported from Goma, Congo. Houda Benalla contributed reporting from Tamesna, Morocco.
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