WHO announces plan to contain smallpox transmission | World and Science

WHO announces plan to contain smallpox transmission
Agence France-Presse

Posted on 08/26/2024 at 20:09

The World Health Organization launched on Monday (26) a six-month plan to help stop the outbreak of smallpox, including increasing the number of staff in affected countries and strengthening surveillance, prevention and response strategies.

The WHO said it expects the plan, which runs from September to February next year, to require $135 million in funding, and aims to improve access to vaccines, especially in African countries hardest hit by the outbreak. “The smallpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighboring countries can be controlled and stopped,” WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a statement.

He added that the agency is “substantially increasing its staff” in the affected countries. In mid-August, the World Health Organization classified the current smallpox outbreak as a global health emergency.

German government spokesman Steffen Hebestreit also said on Monday that Germany was donating 100,000 doses of smallpox vaccine to affected countries from stocks held by its military. In its latest update on the outbreak, the Africa Centers for Disease Control reported that as of Thursday, the 22nd, there were already more than 21,000 suspected or confirmed cases and 590 deaths reported in 2024 in 12 African countries.