As Kenya awaits mpox vaccine roll-out, health workers drive rising public awareness of the virus
April 16, 2025
Kenya’s mpox outbreak, now confirmed in 13 counties, highlights the need for targeted public health interventions. Cases cluster along the Mombasa-Kampala transport corridor, disproportionately affecting sex workers and long-distance truck drivers. In Kiboko, a town on this route, local health workers identified mpox in a sex worker living with HIV, who later transmitted it to her children. Community-based surveillance, posters, and Red Cross support have helped stem transmission. On April 9, Kenya received 10,700 vaccine doses from Gavi. The rollout will prioritize vulnerable populations, but sustained community engagement and health education remain vital to curb this growing public health threat.
Kenya’s ongoing mpox outbreak, with 60 confirmed cases across 13 counties, underscores how mobility, marginalization, and weak health infrastructure converge to accelerate transmission. The pattern of spread mirrors Kenya’s primary cargo corridor—from Mombasa to the Ugandan border—and disproportionately affects sex workers and long-distance truck drivers. Jane, a sex worker in Kiboko and one of the first confirmed cases, endured weeks of symptoms before community health promoters connected her to formal care. Diagnosed with mpox and living with HIV, she and her children isolated for 21 days, receiving essential support from local nurses and the Red Cross.
This corridor-based transmission dynamic, as explained by Dr. Pius Mutuku of Kenya’s Ministry of Health, reveals how nodes of interchange—truck stops, lodges, and markets—facilitate disease propagation. Beyond sex workers and truckers, individuals with comorbidities like diabetes and untreated HIV have experienced severe disease or death. Alarmingly, 18% of Kenya’s confirmed cases are among people living with HIV. The country’s first mpox-related death occurred in Bungoma in a patient who had interrupted antiretroviral treatment.
In the absence of vaccines, community health education has proven Kenya’s strongest defense. Posters in Kiboko show symptoms and urge early care-seeking. Health workers encourage sex workers to screen clients before contact. This low-cost, high-trust model has helped facilitate early case detection—exemplified in Bonje, where trucker unions shared lesion images via WhatsApp, leading to several confirmed diagnoses.
With 10,700 mpox vaccine doses recently delivered by Gavi, frontline workers and high-risk groups are finally on track to receive targeted protection. But vaccines alone won’t halt the outbreak. Sustained local engagement, community-led surveillance, and investments in HIV care must accompany immunization to contain the virus and prevent further spread—within Kenya and across East Africa.