By Hassan I. Conteh- Health

A senior official at National Public Health Agency (NaPHA), Alieu Tommy, says youth must help to teach community people about the “dangers of the Mpox virus.”

“Our focus is to cut down the transmission, also how it transfers from animals to people and from people to people, to limit the signs and symptoms on those affected.”

“And on how best everybody can become united to help educate others about the disease,” Mr Tommy said while speaking to about 200 youth at Hamilton in Freetown on Saturday 14th June, 2025.

Alieu Tommy is the National Mpox Risk Communication & Country Engagement – Lead at NaPHA in Sierra Leone.

“Everyone is at risk, don’t say I can’t sick of Mpox, and so I won’t take the treatment or doze,” he told the youth.

He listed out the categories of people who may easily catch the virus.

Among them are: hunters, caregivers, high or low blood pressure patients, HIV/AIDS patients, those affected by two or more illnesses are at risk, he said.

He said since they are sick and are affected by multiple diseases they may lack the resistant in their body system to fight another incoming disease like Mpox whose virus is so deadly.

NaPHA comms person said pregnant women and children are also vulnerable to the disease.

The Mpox has recorded about 80 percent of the cases in urban Freetown with the north also having high infection rates, said Mr Tommy.

He said there are about 111 countries being affected by the Mpox disease, an illness caused by an Octopus virus.

The Mpox was originally called Monkey Pox virus but, Mr Tommy, said to avoid more moneys be killed by people around the world, WHO thought it wise that the name money virus should instead be shorten to be called Mpox.

Sierra Leone got its first Mpox case on January 10 this year and there are now about 24 deaths reported since that period, Tommy explained.

While about 4,000 sick cases have been recorded, 3,000 have survived from the Mpox virus after being treated at the country’s various hospitals.

This means there are higher chances for a victim of Mpox to get cured of the virus but all depends too if they report to the hospital early.

If someone notices a rash in their body and later the rash turns to big bumps or body soils with the inner skin becoming white, the person should go to the hospital at once.

“We are trying our best to  cut the transmission rate through informing the people and identifying contacts ( affected persons). And so we advise everyone to be watchful of others who may start showing up signs of rash, bumps and fever from any sickling individual in community they live,” he said.

Mr Tommy said hunters in the provinces are advised to limit the hunting of animals as they could be carriers of the virus.

He said they had received 61,300 drug dozes from GAVI and 20,000 from UAE to contain the virus.

He said adults and adolescents are only allowed to take the Mpox injections while 12 years old children are prevented from being vaccinated, hence they’re grouped as “off-labels”. Also children who are suckling should not be given the vaccine.

NaPHA official recommends every Sierra Leonean the use of regular “hand-washing” with alcohols, sanitizers.

He added that people should seek medical advice, use condoms and multiple sex partners, avoid close-contacts with suspected persons, must clean their homes.

They should also buy and put at home veronica buckets and filled with water as always.

Unlike the past Ebola, and Covid diseases, Mpox is not an airborne disease and so it could be passed to another by an infected person through body contact or having contact with the body fluid of the victim.

He said within (3-4 weeks) Mpox signs and symptoms like rash, body soils, fever would start to show out.

He advised that those who have got cured from the Mpox should not be redicluled or pointed at in society by people.

On their own part to discourage the stigma, they have decided to call Mpox patients as “recovered patients” instead of calling them survivors.