This open, knowledge-sharing community supports research teams and encourages local studies to address critical gaps in mpox evidence. New data are urgently needed to improve understanding of transmission, disease severity, and duration, which will inform vaccine development, testing, and more effective detection and diagnosis. Social science research is also essential to strengthen public health education, awareness, and case detection, ultimately improving access to care and reducing transmission.

Latest

Global Mpox Trends Report | by WHO
This report provides an overview of the mpox1 epidemiological situation, based on global surveillance data reported to WHO since 01 January 2022. This surveillance was initiated in response to the unprecedented human-to-human transmission of monkeypox virus (MPXV) that occurred globally in 2022, leading to the first Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) for mpox. Following the lifting of that PHEIC, surveillance updates were issued monthly for all WHO regions. With the declaration of the second PHEIC in August 2024, surveillance was further strengthened in most African countries, where updates are now provided on a weekly basis. The mpox second PHEIC was lifted on 05 September 2025.

Fifth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the upsurge of mpox 2024 | Statement | by WHO (September 2025)
The Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO) is hereby transmitting the report of the fifth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) Emergency Committee (Committee) regarding the upsurge of mpox 2024, held on Thursday, 4 September 2025, from 12:00 to 17:00 CEST.

 


Here you’ll find the newest research updates and resources from across our network, along with trusted information from the WHO and other key partners. Check back often to explore new tools and materials as they become available.



Interim guidance on social and behavioural research for the mpox public health response - March 2025

This interim guidance aims to clarify standards for high-quality, ethical, social and behavioural research to strengthen the public health response to the ongoing mpox PHEIC for community protection. The guidance is particularly relevant to rapid research that aims to inform near-real-time decision-making and action, but is equally applicable to longer-term research that may be critical for informing future outbreak preparedness and response.

Download the guidance document [PDF 3.9mb]



Mpox Testing Strategy - November 2024

This testing strategy for mpox is a guide for stakeholders supporting the mpox response, including Ministries of Health and other Government agencies, national mpox response task-forces, funding and implementing agencies, public health experts, epidemiologists, front-line healthcare service providers, including clinicians, nurses, laboratory professionals, community healthcare workers and others involved in outbreak preparedness and response activities for enhanced community protection.

Download the strategy [PDF 3.33mb]

 

 


Latest Research Updates

Mpox Global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan | covering the 6 months from Sep 2024 - Feb 2025 Mpox Continental Preparedness and Response Plan for Africa
Strategic framework for enhancing prevention and control of mpox 2024–2027 | Published: May 2024 Ongoing mpox outbreak in Kamituga, South Kivu province, associated with monkeypox virus of a novel Clade I sub-lineage, Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2024 

News Coverage on the Mpox Outbreak

Mpox clade Ib and clade IIb outbreak: epidemiological overview
5 June 2025
Current data regarding mpox clade Ib and clade IIb cases within the United Kingdom. Earlier reports spanning the period from June 2022 through January 2025 contain details exclusively on clade IIb cases.

New mpox strain mutating faster than expected, and other top health stories
30 August 2024 - World Economic Forum 
The new mpox strain spreading from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is mutating faster than expected, particularly in regions lacking the resources for proper tracking, scientists report. This has led to "numerous unknowns" about the virus’s severity and transmission, complicating the global response, experts in Africa, Europe and the United States told Reuters.

Another worldwide alert – mpox is spreading. Here are three steps we can take to head it off
30 August 2024 - The Guardian
Just a little over a year since declaring that Covid-19 was no longer a public health emergency of international concern and that the 2022-23 mpox crisis had subsided, the World Health Organization finds itself warning of another crisis as cases of yet another new strain of the mpox virus spread from the Democratic Republic of the Congo to other countries in Africa and beyond.

WHO urges rapid access to mpox diagnostic tests, invites manufacturers to emergency review
29 August 2024 - World Health Organization
WHO has asked manufacturers of mpox in vitro diagnostics (IVDs) to submit an expression of interest for Emergency Use Listing (EUL). WHO has been in ongoing discussions with manufacturers about the need for effective diagnostics, particularly in low-income settings. The request for EUL expressions of interest by manufacturers is the latest development in these discussions.

WHO Director-General declares mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern
14 August 2024
WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has determined that the upsurge of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a growing number of countries in Africa constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR).