WHO Director General dr. Tedros about mpox outbreak

"Now to the outbreaks of M-pox in Africa.
I say outbreaks, plural, because it's important to remember that we are not dealing with one outbreak but with several, caused by different strains or clades of the virus in different places.

The most concerning is the outbreak of clade 1B in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Burundi, where cases are continuing to increase.

The virus is being spread primarily through close personal contact, including sex, and within families through caring for young children, breastfeeding, and sharing clothing or bedding. The response to the outbreak is made more difficult by the context, with insecurity in the affected areas and concurrent outbreaks of other diseases, including measles and chickenpox.

WHO is on the ground working to stop these outbreaks. Across nine countries, WHO has trained more than 1,600 health workers on treating M-pox. Tomorrow, more than 33 tons of supplies will be delivered to the DRC, including essential commodities for testing, treating, and preventing infections. And in Burundi, WHO has addressed a critical fuel shortage to ensure that WHO are partners and the government can conduct their daily mpox response activities at pace and scale.

Vaccines are now being deployed, but vaccines alone will not end these outbreaks, and are only one part of the comprehensive preparedness and response plan that WHO and our partners are implementing.

We're also strengthening surveillance and field investigation, laboratory capacity, home and clinical care, infection prevention and control, and risk communication and community engagement. Implementing this plan depends on a strong partnership between governments, WHO, the Africa CDC, and many others. Too many to list.

One example of this partnership is the launch of the access and allocation mechanism for M-Pox, which will increase access to vaccines and other tools for people at highest risk and ensure that limited supplies are used effectively and equitably. This mechanism was set up as part of the Interim Medical Countermeasures Network."