The Southern African Development Community (SADC) will hold a virtual meeting of Ministers of Health on 4 September 2024 to assess the Mpox epidemiological outlook and to develop a coordinated regional response.
In a statement issued this Tuesday, 03 September, the SADC Secretariat said that the Ministers will deliberate on the Mpox situation on the African continent and in the SADC region and discuss how to strengthen public health surveillance at the national level and on how cross-border disease surveillance should be coordinated to improve the rate of detection, strengthen prevention and limit the spread of Mpox.
The Ministers are expected to prioritise the development and implementation of multi-sectoral interventions to limit and control the spread of Mpox especially for countries without Mpox outbreaks to facilitate early detection and treatment.
The World Health Organization (WHO) and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) have recently declared Mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHIEC) and a Public Health Emergency of Continental Security (PHECS) respectively.
Following the outbreak of Mpox, the 44th SADC Summit of Heads of State and Government held in Harare, Republic of Zimbabwe on 17 August 2024 extended solidarity and support to Member States affected by Mpox and directed the Secretariat to convene an urgent meeting of the Ministers of Health to assess the impact of Mpox and facilitate coordinated regional response to control the spread of the disease.
The Ministers’ meeting will be preceded by a meeting of Senior Officials for Health who will prepare documents for Ministers to consider and make decisions.
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