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STORY: Lying on thin mattresses on damp earth, this is an overcrowded makeshift mpox isolation ward in east Democratic Republic of Congo.

The country is the epicenter of the global public health emergency declared by the World Health Organization last month.

Overstretched hospital workers grapple with drug shortages and lack of space to accommodate the influx of patients.

In Kavumu, 900 symptomatic patients like Sifa Mwakasisi have been taken in over the past three months.

"They should give us medicine and put us in good conditions instead of just locking us in this cage as if we're not human, telling us no one should come near us."

The head of Congo's mpox response team acknowledged that parts of the vast country lacked medicine.

He added that dispatching donations, including 115 tonnes of medicine from the World Bank, was a priority.

Relatives who usually provide the bulk of meals in underfunded public facilities were banned from visiting the mpox ward to avoid contamination.

Basic treatment is also a challenge. Here's Kavumu Hospital's medical director, Musole Mulamba Muva.

"We have many challenges. The first challenge concerns the supply of medicine, because we run out of medicine every day, because the stocks given to us by partners often run out without being able to renew. We have to wait for more medicine to arrive. And so we always experience shortages, medicine shortages, and that's a big challenge we have in managing this disease."

Mpox causes flu-like symptoms and pus-filled lesions and, while usually mild, it can kill.

Children, pregnant women and people with weakened immune systems are at higher risk of complications.

Vaccines are set to arrive within days to fight the new strain of the virus, while Congo's President has allowed a first $10 million disbursement to fight the outbreak.

Over 19,000 suspected cases of mpox have been reported since the start of the year in Congo, according to the health ministry.

Of those, 5000 were confirmed and 655 were fatal.