The World Health Organization on Monday recommended that countries affected by mpox (formerly known as monkey pox) begin vaccination programs in the areas where cases have been recorded.

An outbreak of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, caused by the clade 1b strain, and also affecting Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, was the reason the World Health Organization (WHO) declared a state of emergency on 14 August public health emergency of international concern, the highest level of health alert.

The Democratic Republic of Congo hopes to receive its first doses of mpox vaccine by next week, following pledges from the United States and Japan to help it fight the outbreak, Congo’s health minister said today.

The WHO had taken a similar decision in 2022 when an epidemic, then caused by the clade 2b strain, spread worldwide. The lifting of the alert took place in May 2023, but the WHO had made public recommendations to all countries, mainly asking them to prepare national control plans or maintain surveillance. Those recommendations remain in place, but WHO today provided additional recommendations for “countries experiencing outbreaks, notably, but not limited to, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda.” the agency announced.

The WHO recommends that countries, among other things, “initiate programs to promote smallpox vaccination efforts in areas where outbreaks occur (that is, where the disease occurred during the previous two to four weeks), targeting people at high risk of infection (for example, contacts of cases, including sexual contacts, children, health workers and nursing staff).

Regarding international transport, the WHO recommends “the establishment or strengthening of cross-border cooperation agreements on the surveillance and management of suspected smallpox cases, the sharing of information with travelers and transport companies”.

However this must be implemented”without deciding on general restrictions for travel and trade that would have an adverse impact on local, regional or national economies,” he stresses.

WHO also calls on affected countries to establish or strengthen national and local emergency response coordination mechanisms, strengthen disease surveillance and detection by separating variants, and notify WHO of outbreaks “early and on a weekly basis.” base”.

It also urges them to improve research, fight the stigma attached to the disease and improve the skills of health workers for mpox by providing them with personal protective equipment.

Overall 18,737 suspected or confirmed cases of mpox have been recorded since the beginning of the year in Africa, the African Union Disease Control Agency (Africa CDC) announced on Saturday.