Morocco leads Africa in producing mpox tests and challenging imports

In 2023, Morocco became the first African country to produce mpox testing kits, a significant step towards addressing the continent's reliance on imported medical supplies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many African nations faced difficulties in acquiring critical health resources like testing kits, prompting officials to seek self-sufficiency in healthcare capabilities. This need was highlighted by the occurrence of over 59,000 mpox cases with 1,164 deaths reported in 20 African countries during the year, as per the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In particularly remote areas affected by the mpox outbreak, testing samples had to be sent to distant laboratories, a cumbersome process that delayed diagnoses. For instance, in eastern Congo's South Kivu province, medical professionals had to rely on assessing visible symptoms and taking temperatures in the absence of timely testing capabilities. The lack of equipped laboratories in many regions was a critical hurdle in managing the outbreak effectively, according to Musole Robert, the medical director at the Kavumu Referral Hospital. Mpox, a viral infection that spreads primarily through close contact, often leads to visible skin lesions. To diagnose the infection, health workers typically swab the lesions and send samples to laboratories for analysis. The situation, however, began to improve when companies started developing rapid test kits, which can provide results without extensive lab processing; this was particularly evident after cases of mpox appeared in Western countries in 2022. In response to the emerging mpox outbreaks in Africa, Morocco made strides by implementing a program to facilitate the regulatory approval of new tests, reducing the dependency on external resources and aiming for faster access to diagnostics. Experts now recognize that localized production of medical tests not only supports timely responses to health emergencies but also allows manufacturers to tailor their solutions to the specific needs of the African populace, making it easier for the continent to address its public health challenges. As stated by Moumen, an expert in the field, there is a growing realization that tests should indeed come from regions most affected by health crises, establishing a demand for 'African tests for Africa'.