The outbreaks of mpox in the DRC and neighbouring countries “can be controlled and stopped”, but some 121 million euros will be needed to finance the international response over the next six months, the WHO said on Monday.
The WHO’s global strategic plan for preparedness and response to MPOX covers the period from September 2024 to February 2025, according to a statement.
It predicts that $135 million (€121 million) will be required to fund the international response, including, among others, the WHO, member states and partners including the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC).
WHO will soon launch its appeal for funds to clarify its needs. In the meantime, it has released about $1.5 million from its emergency contingency fund.
“The outbreaks of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries can be controlled and stopped,” said WHO Director-General Dr.r Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, in the press release.
The resurgence of MPOX and the appearance of a new variant (clade 1b), first detected in the DRC, prompted the WHO to declare its highest level of alert at the international level on August 14.
The WHO had already taken such a decision in 2022 when an outbreak of mpox, carried by clade 2b, had spread across the world. The alert had been lifted in May 2023.
“Since the start of the global mpox outbreak in 2022, more than 100,000 confirmed cases have been reported to WHO. The virus continues to circulate at low levels across the world,” said Dr.r Tedros during the presentation of the strategic plan to the organization’s member states on Friday.
But he stressed that “the African region has seen an unprecedented increase and geographic expansion.” The DRC accounts for 90% of reported cases in 2024, with more than 16,000 suspected cases, including 575 deaths, recorded since January.
“This resurgence is being driven by two separate outbreaks — in different parts of the country — of two strains, or clades, of the virus that causes MPOS,” he said, but the rapid spread of clade 1b “is the primary reason I have decided to declare a public health emergency of international concern.”
MPOX, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral disease that spreads from animals to humans but is also transmitted between humans through physical contact. It causes fever, muscle aches and skin lesions.