WHO’s plan for mpox response requires $135 mln funding

GENEVA, August 26. /TASS/. The World Health Organization (WHO) has launched a global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to contain mpox outbreaks which will require a funding of $135 million at the first stage within the next six months.
“The plan covers the six-month period of September 2024-February 2025, envisioning a US$135 million funding need for the response by WHO, Member States, partners including Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), communities, and researchers, among others,” it said. “A funding appeal for what WHO needs to deliver on the plan will be launched shortly,” WHO said in a press statement.
The plan “focuses on implementing comprehensive surveillance, prevention, readiness and response strategies; advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures like diagnostic tests and vaccines; minimizing animal-to-human transmission; and empowering communities to actively participate in outbreak prevention and control,” it said. “Strategic vaccination efforts will focus on individuals at the highest risk, including close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers, to interrupt transmission chains.”
Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a rare viral disease which is endemic to remote regions near tropical forests of Central and Western Africa. The first case of an animal transmitting the disease to humans was recorded in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 1970. According to the WHO, this virus is usually transmitted to humans by wild animals, such as rodents and primates, while its secondary spread among humans is limited. Usually the lethality coefficient during mpox outbreaks ranges from 1% to 10% with the majority of fatalities affecting younger age groups.
Common symptoms of mpox are a skin rash or mucosal lesions, which can last from two to four weeks accompanied by fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy and swollen lymph nodes.
On August 14, World Health Organization (WHO) Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared mpox a global public health emergency.