Lara Adejoro The World Health Organisation and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have committed to guiding the development of targeted mpox vaccine preparedness and deployment plans to ensure the efficient use of available doses. This decision was reached last week at a gathering of country representatives and partners in Brazzaville. The Africa CDC, in a statement on Sunday, noted that with anticipated mpox vaccine deliveries to the African region in the coming months, countries had requested support in identifying and mapping mpox hotspots based on local epidemiology and planning targeted vaccination strategies to reach populations at risk of mpox.
More than 120 participants from 17 countries, along with partners from Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, UNICEF, the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the United States Agency for International Development, and with support from Canada, attended the Regional Mpox Vaccine Preparedness and Deployment Plan Development meeting, which took place from November 5-7, 2024. “The regional meeting focused on support for the following countries: Burundi, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Gabon, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Kenya, Nigeria, Republic of Congo, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. “During the meeting, WHO and Africa CDC experts provided countries with the most up-to-date information on WHO recommendations and a set of too.
