The WHO recommended on Monday that countries affected by the new variant of the coronavirus that has recently emerged in Africa launch vaccination programs in areas where cases have emerged.
The resurgence of mpox in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), driven by clade 1b which also affects Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, prompted the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare a public health emergency of international concern on August 14, the highest level of health alert.
The WHO had already made such a decision in 2022 when a mpox epidemic, then carried by clade 2b, spread across the world. The alert was lifted in May 2023, but the WHO issued public recommendations for all countries, asking them in particular to prepare national control plans and maintain surveillance capacities.
These recommendations are still valid, but the WHO provided additional recommendations on Monday for "countries experiencing a resurgence of the epidemic, including, but not limited to, the DRC, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda," the organization said.
WHO recommends, among other things, that they "initiate plans to advance smallpox vaccination activities (...) in areas where cases have occurred (i.e., where the disease has occurred within the previous two to four weeks), targeting people at high risk of infection (e.g., contacts of cases, including sexual contacts, children, health workers and caregivers)."
Regarding international transport, the WHO recommends "establishing or strengthening cross-border collaboration agreements regarding the surveillance and management of suspected cases of COPD, and the communication of information to travelers and transport companies."
But this must be implemented "without resorting to blanket restrictions on travel and trade that would have an unnecessary impact on local, regional or national economies," she stresses.
The WHO also calls on affected countries to establish or strengthen emergency response coordination mechanisms at national and local levels, to strengthen disease surveillance and detection, differentiating between clades, and to report cases to it "in a timely and weekly manner."
She further urged them to improve research, combat stigma associated with the disease and improve the skills of health personnel on MPOX while providing them with personal protective equipment.
A total of 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases of COPD have been reported in Africa since the beginning of the year, the African Union's health agency (Africa CDC) said on Saturday.
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