The current Mpox outbreak, which the World Health Organization has designated a public health emergency of worldwide concern, is primarily affecting children in the east of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Nearly all of the illnesses reported this year and over 450 deaths are related to the nation.

It started off as a tiny, irritated area. When the mother squeezed it, a liquid discharge emerged. Then another one appeared, and in a short while, they spread across the body,” recalls Alain Matabaro of the development of Mpox in his six-year-old son Amani.

After four days of therapy at a clinic in Munigi, near the important eastern Congolese city of Goma, he began to improve.

Dr. Pierre-Olivier Ngadjole of the charity Medair estimates that approximately 75% of the cases seen by the medical professionals there are from youngsters under the age of ten.

The mpox pandemic appears to be more harmful to young people because of their immature immune systems.

Dr. Ngadjole also places the responsibility on the congestion at a nearby camp that was established for locals displaced by violence in the area. Children “are always playing together” and extremely close contact are two ways that mpox is spread. He says, “They don’t really give a damn about social distance.”

Additionally, you can observe that they even sleep in the same bed in the houses. Three, four, or five kids are present. Every day, the transmission is present.

310 cases of mpox have been treated at the Munigi clinic since June. The facility offers free treatment, including paracetamol, safe drinking water, and medications to treat skin infections. Currently, five to ten new admissions are made there every day.

There hasn’t been a single death from the illness, and Dr. Ngadjole thinks this is because individuals are getting treatment early.

“I believe it’s critical to offer free health services, particularly in this situation. It indicates that people arrive at the medical center early and don’t encounter any financial obstacles.

At a hospital in Kavumu, 80 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Munigi, on the opposite side of Lake Kivu, the situation is different.

Since June, eight hundred patients—all under the age of five—had been seen there; eight of them have passed away.

Ansima Kanigo, age two, contracted mpox from one of her four siblings, who have all had the illness.

At first, 35-year-old Nzigire Kanigo, her mother, didn’t know what it was.

It’s something I’ve never seen before. The other parents thought my child’s illness might be the measles, but after trying to treat it at home and failing, we came here.

“May God reward the physician for bringing the medications. After being treated, three [children] are now at home. Right now, the only people I have admitted to this hospital are two. I give God thanks.

Dr. Robert Musole, the hospital’s medical director, says officials shouldn’t undervalue the outbreak.

Since we have a limited capacity and are in high demand, the situation is really critical and we are completely overloaded.

“As we respond, accommodating patients is the first challenge we encounter. The availability of medications, which we lack, is the second problem.

Millions of people who have fled their homes due to the activities of various rebel factions can be found in multiple camps spread throughout the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

People are frequently housed in subpar conditions with little sanitation, packed into improvised buildings—an ideal environment for Mpox to proliferate.