The WHO Secretariat then presented the draft “WHO Strategic Plan for the Containment of the Multi-Country Monkeypox Outbreak.” The plan emphasized that a strengthened, agile, and collaborative approach must be adopted, with a particular focus on raising awareness and empowering affected population groups to adopt safe behaviors and protective measures based on the risks they face, and on stopping further spread of monkeypox within those population groups.
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世卫组织秘书处还介绍了为支持各国应对这一事件而向其提供的技术指导意见，具体围绕以下方面：加强监测；
The WHO Secretariat also presented their technical guidance, offered to countries in support of their efforts in responding to this event, and revolving around: enhanced surveillance; isolation of cases; contact identification and monitoring; strengthened laboratory and diagnostic capacities; clinical management and infection prevention and control measures within health care and community settings, including care pathways; engagement with affected population groups and effective communication to avoid stigmatization; robust care pathways, including the use of medical countermeasures under collaborative research frameworks, using standardized data collection tools to rapidly increase evidence generation on efficacy and safety of these products.
Following the presentations session, the Committee reconvened in a closed meeting to examine the questions in relation to whether the event constitutes a PHEIC or not, and if so, to consider the Temporary Recommendations, drafted by the WHO Secretariat in accordance with IHR provisions.
At the request of the Chair, the WHO Secretariat reminded the Committee Members of their mandate and recalled the definition of a PHEIC under the IHR: an extraordinary event, which constitutes a public health risk to other States through international transmission, and which potentially requires a coordinated international response.
The Committee discussed key issues related to the outbreak, including: current observations of plateauing or potential downward trends in case numbers in some of the countries experiencing outbreak early on; the need for further understanding of transmission dynamics; the challenges related to contact tracing, particularly because of anonymous contacts, and potential links to international gatherings and LGBTQI+ Pride events conducive for increased opportunities for exposure through intimate sexual encounters; the need for continuous evaluation of interventions that appear to have had an impact on transmission; the identification of key activities for risk communications and community engagement, working in close partnership with affected communities to raise awareness about personal protective measures and behaviours during upcoming events and gatherings; the need to evaluate the impact of different interventions, including the evaluation of vaccination strategies implemented by certain countries in response to the outbreak, and the availability and equity in access and licensing of medical countermeasures.
The Committee was concerned about the potential for exacerbation of the stigmatization and infringement of human rights, including the rights to privacy, non-discrimination, physical and mental health, of affected population groups, which would further impede response efforts.
Additionally, for the protection of public health, some Members of the Committee expressed the views that laws, policies and practices that criminalize or stigmatize consensual same-sex behaviour by state or non-state actors create barriers to accessing health services and may also hamper response interventions.
Additional knowledge gaps and areas of uncertainty, for which more information is needed rapidly to support a more comprehensive assessment of the public health risk of this event, include: transmission modes; full spectrum of clinical presentation; infectious period; reservoir species and potential for reverse zoonoses; the possibility of virus; and access to vaccines and antivirals and their efficacy in humans.
The Committee recognized that monkeypox is endemic in parts of Africa, where it has been noted to cause disease, including fatalities, for decades, and that the response to this outbreak must serve as a catalyst to increase efforts to address monkeypox in the longer term and access to essential supplies worldwide.