Mpox Emergency
The World Health Organization has declared an outbreak of Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, to be a public health emergency. The World Council of Churches has called on churches to work with governments and civil organizations to help curb the spread of the disease. (WCC Photo by Marcelo Schneider)
The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling on faith communities to work alongside governments and wider civil society to overcome the Mpox outbreak.
The World Health Organization declared Mpox as an international public health emergency on August 14. The current strain is transmitted through routine physical contact, even without intimate contact.
For most people, the infection causes a relatively mild disease characterized by fever, headaches, rashes, and blisters on the skin. But for people with weakened immune systems, the outcomes of the disease can be worse, causing severe illness with more serious skin lesions and other problems that can lead to death. Four out of 100 people with Mpox are estimated to manifest severe symptoms of this current strain.
WCC general secretary Dr Jerry Pillay said that this public health emergency obliges the world to work together, collaborate closely, be committed, and invest in overcoming this emerging crisis.
“Vaccines are one component of the strategy,” Pillay. said. “Countries in the global north have national stockpiles, possibly of millions of doses that can potentially be released to the needy.”
The outbreak can only be curbed by the full spectrum of a good public health response, Pillay said
He called on churches and faith communities to be “informed and to communicate reliable information regarding the outbreak and to work against misinformation,” adding that churches can also educate “communities in the prevention of transmission” and “prevent the stigmatization of people affected.”
Churches can also provide care—including spiritual and psychosocial support—for those affected by Mpox, Pillay noted.
They can also advocate “for countries in the global north to release stockpiles of Mpox vaccine for use in most affected regions,” he said, and for “functioning health systems that provide universal healthcare.”
Pillay concluded by calling for sharing the common burdens of the world, so that the challenges become bearable and surmountable. “By upholding each other, we uphold humanity and all creation,” he concluded.
The Global Health unit of the United Methodist General Board of Global Ministries has responded to the outbreak, reported Christie R. House on the mission board's website. House wrote:
The Africa Center for Disease Control reported that at least 13 African countries, including previously unaffected nations like Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda, have reported mpox outbreaks, with suspected cases across the continent surging past 17,000, a significant increase from 7,146 cases in 2022 and 14,957 cases in 2023.
The Democratic Republic of Congo, one of the countries with limited access to testing and care where the Global Ministries’ Global Health unit supports United Methodist health facilities, reported most (96%) of the confirmed mpox cases.
Dr. Damas Lushima, the UMC Health Board Coordinator for the East Congo Episcopal Area, notified Global Health staff: “The mpox situation has affected three provinces in the East of the republic and the situation is becoming worrying in South Kivu, North Kivu and Maniema.” Maniema province, with its capital in Kindu, is where the East Congo Episcopal Area offices are headquartered.
Dr. Megh Raj Jagriti, a program manager for Global Health, said that in recent weeks there has been an unprecedented increase in the number of countries in the WHO African region reporting mpox cases and outbreaks with almost 1,000 new cases reported in June 2024 alone, bringing the total number of cumulative suspected cases to 14,091: 2,673 confirmed cases and 511 deaths (majority in the DRC) by July 22, 2024.
The Global Health unit is providing technical resources, assistance and recommendations to United Methodist health partners in the region.