WHO Director-General's opening remarks at Member States information session on mpox – 23 August 2024

Honourable Ministers, Excellencies, dear colleagues and friends,

Good morning, good afternoon and good evening to all Member States, and thank you for joining us once again.

Since the start of the global mpox outbreak in 2022, more than one hundred thousand confirmed mpox cases have been reported to WHO.

The virus continues to circulate at low levels globally.

The African Region has had an unprecedented increase and geographical expansion.

Transmission is now centred in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with 90% of the reported cases in 2024. There have been more than sixteen thousand suspected cases - including 575 deaths - this year alone.

This upsurge is being driven by two separate outbreaks - in different parts of the country - of two strains, or clades, of the virus that causes mpox.

The rapid spread of a new clade, clade 1b, is the main reason for my decision to declare a public health emergency of international concern, following the International Health Regulations Emergency Committee meeting on the 14th of August 2024.

I issued temporary recommendations five days later.

In the past month, cases of clade 1b have been reported in four countries neighbouring DRC, which had not reported mpox before: Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.

This week, cases have also been reported in Thailand and Sweden.

WHO and partners have developed a Global Mpox Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to stop outbreaks of human-to-human transmission of mpox through coordinated global, regional, and national efforts.

The plan focuses on implementing comprehensive surveillance and response strategies; advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures; minimizing zoonotic transmission; and empowering communities to actively participate in outbreak prevention and control.

At the global-level, the emphasis is on strategic leadership, timely evidence-based guidance, and access to medical countermeasures for the most at-risk groups in affected countries.

We are working with a broad range of international, regional, national and local partners and networks to enhance coordination across key areas of preparedness, readiness and response.

This includes engagement with the Act-A Principals group; the Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response; the R&D Blueprint for Epidemics; and the i-MCM Net.

WHO regional offices have also established Incident Management Support Teams - IMSTs- to lead preparedness and response activities, and we are significantly scaling up staff in affected countries.

Within the Africa Region, where need is greatest, the WHO Regional Office for Africa, in collaboration with Africa CDC, will jointly spearhead the coordination of mpox response efforts.

Together, WHO AFRO and Africa CDC have agreed on a one-plan, one-budget approach as part of the Africa Continental Mpox Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan.

At the national and sub-national level, health authorities will adapt strategies to current epidemiological trends.

Let me be clear: this new mpox outbreak can be controlled and can be stopped.

Doing so requires concerted action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and you, our Member States.

As with all global health actions, our approach must adhere to the principles of equity, global solidarity, community empowerment, human rights, and coordination across sectors.

For today's presentation, on behalf of the mpox IMST, Dr Maria Van Kerkhove and Scott Pendergast will present an overview of the temporary recommendations; actions being taken by WHO, Member States and partners; and an overview of the Global Mpox Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan.

Responding to this complex outbreak requires a comprehensive and coordinated international response.

To fund this work and to stop the outbreak as quickly as possible, our initial estimates are that the SPRP requires approximately US$ 135 million over the next six months for the acute phase of the outbreak.

That amount will likely increase as we update the plan in light of growing needs.

A dedicated WHO funding appeal will be released early next week. We are appealing to donors to provide the needed resources, and thank those who have already made pledges to WHO and other partners.

So far, for this mpox outbreak in 2024, we have released about US$ 1.5 million from the WHO Contingency Fund for Emergencies, and we plan to release more in the coming days, until funding from donors for the response comes in.

WHO will coordinate the global response, working closely with each of the affected countries, to prevent transmission, treat those infected, and save lives.

I'd like to close by noting that today's information meeting was requested by members of the Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response, which held their first extraordinary meeting last Thursday, just 24 hours after the PHEIC had been declared.

Further updates will be discussed at the fifth meeting of the Standing Committee on the 3rd and 4th of September.

As always, we are grateful for your engagement with today's presentations, and we look forward to your questions, comments and guidance.

I thank you.

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