Press Release | 23 August 2024

Secretary Teodoro J. Herbosa along with Department of Health (DOH) officials and staff attended a hybrid-format World Health Organization (WHO) briefing on the global mpox situation. Presided by WHO Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at WHO headquarters in Geneva, the meeting gathered over 300 Member State delegates, WHO staff and experts to discuss recent developments.

WHO presented a draft Mpox strategic preparedness and response plan, which highlighted the need for all countries to heighten surveillance, improve reporting of cases, and continue the strong collaboration and participation of the international community.

Also discussed were the need to empower community volunteers and health workers to identify suspect cases early and report them promptly to the national mpox surveillance system. The day before, Sec. Herbosa already convened the DOH’s Emerging and Re-emerging Infectious Diseases (EREID) Strategic Advisory Group of Experts (SAGE) to discuss this very need to empower health workers like dermatologists who are more likely to see suspect mpox cases given the clear skin symptoms of the disease.

WHO experts also discussed the global strategy for a phased approach to vaccination, where the priority now is to stop the outbreak in Africa (particularly in the Democratic Republic of the Congo where transmission is highest). Once more vaccine doses are available, the next phase will be to expand protection in affected communities, targeting individuals at high risk of severe disease based on local epidemiology in affected areas. The third and final phase, to protect for the future, will seek to increase levels of population immunity, targeting all populations recommended by WHO’s own SAGE “when and as doses become available.”

“We continue to monitor the mpox situation in our country even as we link with our counterparts worldwide. We thank the international health community for validating what the DOH has started doing,” said Sec. Herbosa. “We know much about mpox and its skin to skin transmission. Stop it from spreading by washing hands with soap and water or using alcohol sanitizers. Clean surfaces too, and keep skin covered,” added the Health Chief.