Honourable Ministers, heads of delegation, my sister Tshidi and my brother Jean,
Dear colleagues and friends,
Mpox is not new to our continent, and it is not new to WHO.
For years, WHO has been supporting affected countries in Africa to respond to sporadic outbreaks of mpox.
And for years, we have been calling for more research, and for the development of diagnostics, therapeutics and vaccines for mpox.
We see now it’s attracting the attention of the international community.
As you know, two weeks ago today, I convened an Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations, and on its advice, declared a public health emergency of international concern over the outbreaks of mpox in Africa.
This is the highest level of alarm under international health law.
My declaration is completely aligned with that made by my brother Jean, the Director-General of the Africa CDC the previous day of a public health emergency of continental security.
This is historic, the first time, and the continental and global declarations reinforce each other.
Dr Kaseya and I have spoken frequently to ensure our two organizations are working together closely to leverage our comparative advantages, and to coordinate our work under one plan, with one budget, as Jean already indicated earlier.
As a side note, I’m proud to say that I actually proposed the idea of establishing the Africa CDC at the Abuja African Union Summit in July 2013, when I was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ethiopia.
So I’m very glad to see how the my daughter, the Africa CDC, has grown, and is now co-leading the response to mpox with WHO.
Credit also to all Member States of the African Union for establishing the Africa CDC.
In accordance with the IHR, I issued temporary recommendations last Monday for countries at risk, and I have also extended the standing recommendations that I issued last year for all countries.
On Friday last week, we shared our global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan, to stop human-to-human transmission and bring these outbreaks under control.
I’m confident that mpox can be stopped if we work in unison under the leadership of you, governments.
On Friday, we received the information we needed from the manufacturers of both vaccines to evaluate their products for Emergency Use Listing.
We expect to be able to issue that listing within the next three weeks.
In the meantime, I have given the green light to Gavi and UNICEF to proceed with procurement of vaccines, pending the EUL decision.
It’s vital to stress that although vaccines are a powerful tool, they are by no means the only tool. There are many other things that WHO, the Africa CDC and our partners are doing to stop outbreaks and save lives.
Tshidi had already indicated, and also Jean, some of the things we’re doing:
Providing PCR machines and kits;
Supporting laboratories;
Scaling up our workforce;
Training health workers and supporting clinicians;
Working with local partners and civil society;
Engaging affected communities in the design, implementation and evaluation of interventions;
And so on.
The last thing I would like to say is that the mpox outbreak is another reminder, if any were needed, of the critical need for a legally-binding international agreement to ensure a coordinated and equitable response to pandemics.
As I did in my opening remarks on Monday, I urge all Member States of this region to engage actively in the work of the International Negotiating Body, and to complete those negotiations by the end of this year.
I thank you.