Africa’s CDC and WHO agree to ‘one-plan, one-budget’ approach
Ongoing mpopx outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries can be controlled and stopped but require aid and effort from across a broad worldwide spectrum, World Health Organization Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus wrote Monday. Photo courtesy of World Health Organization/Twitter
The World Health Organization on Monday revealed a joint global plan with Africa’s Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop the spread of mpox after declaring it a global health emergency.
Ongoing mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and its neighboring countries can be controlled and stopped but require aid and effort from across a broad worldwide spectrum, a WHO official says. Advertisement
“Doing so requires a comprehensive and coordinated plan of action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and our Member States,” WHO’s Director-General Dr. Tedros Ghebreyesus wrote Monday in a news release.
WHO member states will offer insight after receiving a briefing Friday on the plan, which Ghebreyesus said will be based on “the principles of equity, global solidarity, community empowerment, human rights, and coordination across sectors.” Advertisement
This fresh mpox plan aims to build on other temporary recommendations by WHO and will focus on the implementation of “comprehensive surveillance, prevention, readiness and response strategies” to help with “advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures like diagnostic tests and vaccines,” and will look at “minimizing animal-to-human transmission” and also aims to empower communities to “actively participate in outbreak prevention and control.”
It would cover a six-month period beginning in September through February of next year, as the WHO envisions the global response effort will cost an estimated $135 million and said a fundraising appeal will be made “shortly” to its member states.
At the global level there is an emphasis being placed on “strategic leadership, timely evidence-based guidance, and access to medical countermeasures for the most at-risk groups in affected countries,” according to WHO.
The WHO added at a coming virtual scientific conference on Aug. 29-30 with Africa’s CDC, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases will meet “to align mpox research with outbreak control goals.”
In Africa, considered “ground zero” so far with the spread of mpox, the WHO said it and Africa’s CDC have agreed on a “one-plan, one-budget approach” on the continent as it seeks to manage the spread as part of what it described as Africa’s “Continental Mpox Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan” which is now under development. Advertisement
“At the national and sub-national level, health authorities will adapt strategies in response to current epidemiological trends,” the WHO said.
Though Africa’s CDC considers mpox to be a crisis on the continent, it has an impact on a global scale as EU member states have joined the African CDC and WHO’s effort to rally nations to share vaccines, treatments and other critical resources with currently affected countries.
The latest mpox outbreak was declared a global public health emergency by the WHO on Aug. 14. Another global emergency, declared after an outbreak in 2023 ended last May.
The emergency designation signifies WHO’s highest level of alert to member nations aimed to ramp up preparation, funding, research and key international public health resources in cooperation against the disease in affected nations.
A first batch of 10,000 mpox vaccines by American authorities will arrive this week in Africa. Since December the United States. “has been working to prepare domestically” for mpox and since then has been “closely monitoring the spread of mpox, specifically clade I mpox,” the CDC said Thursday.
The U.S. last year allocated more than $2 billion in bilateral funding to Central and Eastern African nations to combat infectious diseases. Advertisement
Last week, UNICEF made an appeal for $16 million to scale up its own mpox response and preparedness across the region in Africa.
Meanwhile, the European CDC on Aug.16 released an updated mpox risk assessment after an MPXV clade Ib case had been reported. The ECDC advised that the risk of mpox infection for Europe’s general population is low, but warned that for Europeans traveling to or living in nations affected by mpox that the risk is high and imported mpox cases may likely go up.
In a letter on Friday, Europe’s health agency urged EU member states to donate mpox vaccines to Africa before the end of the month in a letter in response to the global health emergency.
“Several member states and third countries have announced their intention to donate doses to affected countries and Africa,” wrote European Commissioner for Health and Food Safety Stella Kyriakides.
Donations from Europe, she said, “will have more immediate impact if they are coordinated and channeled with the tried and true Team Europe approach, as was successfully done during the COVID-19 pandemic.”
On Monday, WHO said strategic vaccination efforts will focus on individuals at the highest risk, including close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers aimed at interrupting mppox “transmission chains.” Advertisement
The mpox virus is now in more than 12 African countries and so far this year has caused more than 517 deaths with more than 17,541 confirmed and suspected human cases reported. After the 2022 global emergency declaration, mpox infected nearly 100,000 people, killing roughly 200 people.
WHO said Monday its regional offices and own headquarters have established “incident management support teams” to lead “preparedness, readiness and response activities,” and are “significantly scaling up staff” in nations affected so far by the virus.
Mpox is a viral disease that can be spread between people and certain animals, according to the U.S. CDC. It often causes a rash on hands, feet, chest, face, mouth or near the genitals.
During an incubation period of 3-17 days there are no symptoms, but they start within 21 days of exposure to the virus.
Other symptoms include a fever, chills, swollen lymph nodes, exhaustion, muscle aches, headache and respiratory symptoms.
