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The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, issued an urgent appeal for nearly $59 million on Friday to halt the rapid spread of mpox in six African countries including Burundi, where youngsters have been impacted the most.
“Children in Burundi are bearing the brunt of the mpox outbreak with alarming rates of infection and health impacts,” said Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa. “Of the nearly 600 reported cases, two-thirds are children under 19 years old and the situation is escalating really rapidly with more than [a] 40 per cent increase in cases over the last three weeks.”
To date in Burundi there have been no reported deaths from mpox.
The UNICEF official insisted that with funding and prompt action, “we have an opportunity to end this outbreak in a very short time period because the geographical area is kind of limited and with concerted effort from all partners, I think, we can limit the spread; we can contain the virus so we can stop the outbreak without any loss of life”.
Following the start of the school year earlier this week in Burundi, the UN agency remains concerned about the rise of mpox among children under five years of age, who represent 30 per cent of reported cases. To help teachers and parents understand the risks and minimize disruption, the UN agency has supported the education authorities to implement health measures in schools, train staff to recognize early symptoms of mpox and reinforce hand hygiene.
“Make no mistake, we don’t have all the answers. No one does. This is a rapidly evolving situation, with a new, infectious strain, and we are learning more every day about different modes of transmission. And with more information, we update our messaging and our response,” said Dr Ngwakum.
The UNICEF appeal will also provide mental health support for parents and frontline workers who may face hostility from some communities in part because of the association of mpox with sex, which is responsible for some transmission – but by no means all of it.
“Sex in Africa is not something that is spoken of on a daily basis. And if they think you are having a sexually transmitted disease, it stigmatizes you as well,” explained Dr Ngwakum. “We try to explain that this is not the case. Most children have it from body-to-body contact or contact with animals or contact with infected materials, which is not having anything to do with human-to-human sexual contamination.”
Communities also remain fearful of a repeat of previous serious health outbreaks such as Ebola or COVID-19, “so there is an important role we are playing to dispel myths, and calm fears”, the UNICEF official explained.
Highlighting the stark contrast between the high number of suspected deaths from mpox in DRC and Burundi, Dr Margaret Harris from the UN World Health Organization (WHO) explained that this was likely owing to the longstanding humanitarian emergency in eastern DRC.
“Many of the children whom we've seen horribly, sadly die in the Democratic Republic of Congo were very immuno-suppressed through being severely malnourished and having suffered the effects of conflict and perhaps also having other diseases at the same time,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Story: Mpox update Burundi, DRC - UNICEF, WHO
Speakers:
- Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF’s Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa (From Bujumbura)
- Dr Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson
TRT: 02’56”
SOURCE: UNTV CH
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
ASPECT RATIO: 16:9
DATELINE: 20 September 2024 - GENEVA, SWITZERLAND
RESTRICTIONS: None
SHOTLIST
- Exterior medium shot: UN flag alley.
- Wide shot of the UN Geneva Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF’s Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa (from Bujumbura): “Children in Burundi are bearing the brunt of the mpox outbreak with alarming rates of infection and health impacts. Of the nearly 600 reported cases, two-thirds are children under 19 years old and the situation is escalating really rapidly with more than 40 per cent increase in cases over the last three weeks.”
- Medium shot of Press room and participants.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF’s Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa (from Bujumbura): “We have an opportunity to end this outbreak in a very short time period because the geographical area is kind of limited and with concerted effort from all partners, I think, we can limit the spread, we can contain the virus so we can stop the outbreak without any loss of life.”
- Wide shot, Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF’s Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa (from Bujumbura): “UNICEF is urgently appealing for $58.8 million to scale up its response across six African countries with Burundi included. In these countries, children are most affected. These funds are essential to stop the transmission of mpox, protect children and maintain critical essential services.”
- Medium-wide, Press room.
- SOUNDBITE (English) Dr Paul Ngwakum, UNICEF’s Regional Health Advisor for Eastern and Southern Africa (from Bujumbura): “Thirty per cent are children less than five years. And if you look at the data in the DRC, it’s the same pattern. So, this outbreak is more, more severe or affects mostly, children.”
- Medium-wide, Press room and podium.
- SOUNDBITE: Dr Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson: “The three countries reporting the most suspected mpox cases in 2024 are the Democratic Republic of Congo, with 21,835 suspected cases and 717 deaths; in Burundi we have 14,089 suspected cases and no deaths reported, and in Nigeria we have 935 suspected cases and no deaths reported.”
- Medium-wide, Press room and podium.
- SOUNDBITE: Dr Margaret Harris, WHO spokesperson: “Many of the children whom we've seen horribly, sadly die in the Democratic Republic of Congo were very immuno-suppressed through being severely malnourished and having suffered the effects of conflict and perhaps also having other diseases at the same time.”
- Medium, journalists, participants.
- Wide, Press room, participants and control booths.
- Medium, journalists.
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As world’s water reserves change, countries must prepare for a new reality: WMO
New data showing that rivers were at their lowest level for decades last year provides further evidence that the climate crisis is real and countries must act immediately to protect themselves from the increasing threat to communities and livelihoods, the UN World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said on Thursday.
The key findings from WMO’s State of Global Water Resources 2025 report covering the hydrological cycle and extreme events in the five-year period to last year:
- 2025 was one of driest years for river discharge in 35 years
- Past seven years have seen abnorfmal river flows
- Water storage on Earth’s land surface has decreased in past decade
- Widespread glacier loss across all regions for fourth consecutive year
- Asia and Africa are regions most affected by water-related disasters
- Water data availability has improved, but gaps remain in hard-hit areas
Highlighting the long-term decline in the Earth’s freshwater storage and glacier melt, WMO Secretary-General Celeste Saulo explained that the planet’s water reserves used to act as a planetary “savings account” that absorbed the occasional dry season, avoiding a water crisis. “One of the central stories of the 2025 report is what is happening to that savings account? And the simple answer is that we are depleting it,” she told journalists in Geneva.
Groundwater reserves are equally stretched and have been in decline since 2014, WMO’s report states, with nearly two-thirds of monitored wells worldwide showing levels lower than the historical norm and indicating a shift “further toward deficit…not recovery”.
“At the same time, we are seeing more water-related disasters,” Ms. Saulo said, while also stressing that the currently strengthening El Niño “will increase the risk of drought in some areas, and flooding in others”.
Glaciers disappearing
In 2025, for the fourth consecutive year, every major glaciated region on Earth lost ice mass, leading to short-term hazards including floods and long-term water insecurity, according to WMO.
Responding to a question about whether the changing global water cycle might have contributed to the deadly Nepal-China flooding disaster, Ms. Saulo explained that melting ice and rock was just one factor in the chain of events that ultimately sent a massive and deadly wall of water and debris downstream on 26 August, killing at least 1,367 people.
“You asked if it could happen again? Absolutely; the problem in this region is that there’s 63,700 glaciers at the last count,” she told a Press Conference in Geneva. “Even if you’re looking with remote sensing with satellites at these glaciers, you might see some faults, you might see some slight shifting, that does not mean necessarily catastrophic collapse. So, in order to plan for this, it’s very, very difficult. But the international community is looking very hard at ways in which we can bring people together to solve some of these monitoring issues.”
Data indicates that glaciers shrank between 2023 and 2025 with cumulative losses of 1,400 gigatonnes of water – or about one third of annual fresh water needs.
Every major glacier region on Earth lost ice for the fourth consecutive year.
“All 19 glacier regions around the globe lost ice; in Central Asia, Iceland, the Russian Arctic and western Canada and the United States, it was among the three worst years on record,” said Wayne Jenkinson, WMO’s Director of Hydrology and Cryosphere.
Some regions with smaller glaciers such as Central Europe, the Caucasus, the western Canada and the United States may already have reached “peak water”, Mr. Jenkinson warned.
“After this point, the glacier gives less meltwater each year simply because there is less ice left to melt. That matters for every community downstream that relies on water during hot, dry summers,” he explained.
Narelle van der Wel, WMO’s Head of Cryosphere Monitoring, Predictions and Services, stressed that while some further glacier loss is unavoidable, the eventual scale of the decline is not predetermined.
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Preparing for moving baselines
The report does not attribute every observed change to climate change alone. WMO says pressure on water resources and natural variability also contribute.
Mr. Jenkinson said governments need to prepare for “moving baselines” as historical patterns become less reliable.
“The situation 30 years ago is not where we are today,” he said. Countries, he added, need to prepare “for those changes that have really already arrived”.
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