The World Health Organisation and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention have committed to guiding the development of targeted mpox vaccine preparedness and deployment plans to ensure the efficient use of available doses.

The trial will be conducted in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in partnership with Emergent BioSolutions.

The Africa CDC said the vaccination deployment guide was created in anticipation of the vaccine delivery to the region.

Mpox strains are still mutating, further raising the risk of spread both in Africa and globally, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention Director-General Jean Kaseya said.

African Union health watchdog’s chief has said mpox outbreak is ‘still on the upward trend generally’ as cases spread. The African Union’s health watchdog has warned that the mpox outbreak was still not under control and appealed for resources to avoid a “more severe” pandemic than COVID-19.

The African continent is still in the acute phase of the Mpox outbreak as the number of cases reported so far this year surpassed the 50,000 mark, the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) has warned.

Mpox cases have risen by 500% in Africa this year, driven by the new Clade Ib strain, which is more deadly and infectious. With 48,000 suspected cases and 1,048 deaths reported in 19 countries, the outbreak remains uncontrolled.

The spread of mpox has slowed down slightly across Africa but the epidemic is not over, the African Union's health watchdog said Thursday.

The African Union's health watchdog on Thursday warned that mpox outbreak was still not under control and appealed for resources to avoid a "more severe" pandemic than Covid-19.More than 1,100 people have died of mpox in Africa,