Development of optimized standard of care guidelines for mpox: report of global meeting 10-12 June 2025

Overview

As there is currently no effective antiviral treatment for mpox, optimizing the outcomes for patients relies completely on provision of high-quality, standardized and holistic clinical care. Best practice uses existing guidance on acute illness carefully contextualised for mpox.

Challenges include lack of adherence to protocols and guidelines, collection and uptake of data, community ownership, funding gaps and limited lab and clinical systems. WHO therefore convened a multidisciplinary meeting of researchers, technical experts, and frontline practitioners to align global evidence with local realities, and to generate evidence-informed guidance across broad clinical areas - critical care, pain management, ophthalmology, dermatology, mental health, nutrition, and paediatric and obstetric practice. The meeting, held in Africa, gave special consideration to the continent which has suffered the most cases, and has the highest burden of severe disease.