Kenya’s Ministry of Health confirmed on Tuesday that the country remains on heightened Mpox alert following a cluster of sporadic cases reported in Uganda and Tanzania over the past six weeks, though no confirmed domestic cases have been detected in 2026. The announcement, delivered by Ministry Spokesman Dr. Lindwa Wamae at a press briefing in Nairobi, came alongside the activation of enhanced health screening at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Wilson Airport, and four major land border crossings, including Malaba and Namanga.
The East African situation reflects a continuing, if diminished, epidemiological tail from the Clade Ib variant that drove the 2024 regional emergency. At its peak in late 2024, the Democratic Republic of Congo was recording over 26,000 suspected cases per week, and transmission chains had been confirmed in Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi. Kenya activated its national Mpox Incident Command Structure in September 2024 and conducted an emergency vaccination campaign targeting healthcare workers and high-risk populations that reached approximately 38,000 people using Modified Vaccinia Ankara (MVA-BN) doses provided through the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.
The Current Threat Assessment
The sporadic cases now being reported in Uganda — seven confirmed in the Mbale region bordering Kenya over a six-week period — are not indicative of a new outbreak at scale, according to the WHO’s East Africa Regional Office. However, they demonstrate that transmission chains established during the 2024 emergency have not been fully extinguished, and that border communities remain exposed. Mpox surveillance in East Africa depends on the strength of national epidemiological systems, which vary considerably across the bloc: Kenya’s network of 47 county public health laboratories, all linked to the National Public Health Laboratory Services electronic platform, provides significantly more robust early-warning capacity than most of its neighbours.
Dr. Wamae was explicit about Kenya’s current standing. “We are not in an outbreak. We are in a heightened surveillance posture. There is a meaningful difference,” he said. “Our border health teams are conducting visual screening and questionnaire assessment for travellers presenting with febrile illness and rash. Any suspected case is being isolated and tested within 24 hours. Our laboratory turnaround time for Mpox PCR is now six hours at NPHL and 24 hours at all 47 county reference laboratories.”
The Ministry’s rapid response capacity has been materially strengthened since 2024. Kenya now holds a national stockpile of 15,000 MVA-BN vaccine doses — procured with support from GAVI and maintained at cold-chain facilities in Nairobi, Mombasa, and Kisumu — that can be deployed to any county within 48 hours of a confirmed outbreak. Personal protective equipment supplies at health facilities designated as Mpox isolation units have been audited and restocked following lessons learned from the 2024 response, when PPE shortages delayed healthcare worker vaccination.
EAC Coordination
At the East African Community level, Kenya has been among the most vocal advocates for a unified regional Mpox response framework, pushing at the June 2026 EAC Health Ministers meeting in Arusha for real-time case notification between member states, standardised case definitions, and joint procurement of antiviral treatments including tecovirimat (TPOXX), which has shown clinical benefit in severe Mpox cases but remains expensive and poorly distributed across the region.
Tanzania’s recent cases have triggered particular attention given the volume of cross-border movement — both formal and informal — on the Namanga corridor and between Lake Victoria communities. Kenya’s county health officers in Kajiado, Narok, and Migori have been instructed to brief border-area healthcare facilities weekly and to maintain Mpox case investigation teams on standby. The Africa CDC’s continental surveillance dashboard, to which Kenya now contributes daily data feeds, shows the broader picture: 14 African countries have reported confirmed or probable Mpox cases in the current calendar year, with the DRC still accounting for over 70 per cent of the continental burden.
Public Communication Strategy
Health authorities have been careful to avoid generating public alarm while maintaining genuine vigilance. The Ministry’s communications team has circulated guidance in Swahili and five regional languages on recognising Mpox symptoms — fever, rash progressing to fluid-filled blisters, swollen lymph nodes — and on when to seek care. Community health promoters, the frontline network of 100,000 trained volunteers that has become central to Kenya’s primary health care architecture, have been briefed on case referral protocols. The message being emphasised is consistent: Mpox is containable, Kenya is prepared, and the public can help by reporting symptoms early. So far, that message is holding.
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