Monday 26 August 2024 – 21:48
Mpox epidemics in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries “can be controlled and stopped,” but funding of some 121 million euros will be needed to support the international response over the next six months, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Monday.
The global strategic plan for mpox readiness and response, launched by the WHO, covers the period from September 2024 to February 2025, according to a statement by the organization.
A total of $135 million will be required to fund the international response, including the WHO, Member States and partners such as the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC), the statement stressed.
The WHO will shortly be launching a call for funds to specify its needs, after releasing around $1.5 million from its emergency reserve fund.
“This upsurge is being driven by two separate outbreaks – in different parts of the country – of two strains (or clades) of the virus responsible for mpox,” WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus explained, stressing that “the rapid spread of clade 1b is the main reason why we decided to declare a public health emergency of international concern.”
