The World Health Organization (WHO) has unveiled a global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan (SPRP) aimed at halting the human-to-human transmission of mpox through coordinated efforts at global, regional, and national levels. This initiative follows the declaration of a public health emergency of international concern by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on August 14.
The plan, currently open for input from Member States, outlines a six-month strategy from September 2024 to February 2025, with an estimated funding requirement of $135 million. These funds will support WHO, Member States, partners such as the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), local communities, and researchers in implementing the plan. A formal funding appeal will be launched shortly to meet these financial needs.
Building on previous WHO recommendations, the SPRP emphasizes comprehensive surveillance, prevention, readiness, and response strategies. Key components include advancing research, ensuring equitable access to medical countermeasures like diagnostic tests and vaccines, reducing animal-to-human transmission, and empowering communities to engage in outbreak prevention and control. Vaccination efforts will prioritize high-risk individuals, including close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers, to disrupt transmission chains.
At the global level, the plan focuses on strategic leadership, timely evidence-based guidance, and access to medical countermeasures for the most at-risk populations. WHO is collaborating with a broad range of international, regional, national, and local partners to enhance coordination across key areas of preparedness and response. This includes engagement with the ACT-Accelerator Principals group, the Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response, and the interim Medical Counter Measures Network (i-MCM Net).
WHO, along with Africa CDC and other partners, will host a virtual scientific conference on August 29-30, 2024, to align mpox research with outbreak control objectives.
“The mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries can be controlled and ultimately stopped,” said Dr. Ghebreyesus. “This SPRP provides a comprehensive and coordinated plan of action based on the principles of equity, global solidarity, community empowerment, human rights, and cross-sector coordination.”
To lead these efforts, WHO headquarters and regional offices have established incident management support teams and are increasing staffing levels in affected countries. Within the Africa Region, WHO AFRO and Africa CDC will jointly spearhead the mpox response through a unified strategic plan and budget, focusing on the areas of greatest need.
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