WHO Launches Six-Month Global Plan to Combat Mpox Outbreak

World Health Organization (WHO) launched a six-month global strategic and response plan to stop the deadly outbreak of Mpox. This plan aims to curtail human-to-human transmission of Mpox through coordinated global, regional, and national efforts.

Starting  from September 2024 to February 2025, and envisions 135 million U.S. dollars in funding, the plan includes strategic vaccination efforts for people at the highest risk of interrupting transmission chains. This includes close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers. Further, the WHO outlined that at the global level, the emphasis is on leadership, timely evidence-based guidance, and access to medical counter-measures for the most at-risk groups in affected



countries.

WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said, the new plan is based on the principles of equity, global solidarity, community empowerment, human rights, and coordination across sectors, international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and our Member States.

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Mpox Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 14th August in view of its prevalence and spread across many parts of Africa. According to WHO, globally since 2022, more than 99 thousand cases and 208 deaths from 116 countries, had been reported due to Mpox.