Top public health experts and regional stakeholders have called for greater investment in community-led responses, sustainable risk communication structures and coordinated multisectoral strategies to stem the rising tide of Mpox infections across West Africa.
At a regional webinar jointly convened by the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and the ECOWAS Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) Network, experts stressed that only a united and inclusive community approach can halt the spread of Mpox and reduce related fatalities. The webinar, held on Thursday, brought together representatives from ministries of health, civil society groups and communication specialists from across the region.
Regional incident manager at Africa CDC, Dr. Usman Shehu described the current resurgence of Mpox as a public health threat that demands urgent and tailored interventions. He explained that high-risk groups – those with direct contact with infected persons, individuals with multiple sexual partners, commercial sex workers and men who have sex with men (MSM) – must be prioritised in national response strategies.
“These vulnerable populations require targeted behavioural interventions, access to vaccines and dedicated outreach,” Shehu said.
To support regional Mpox control efforts, Shehu revealed that Africa CDC has allocated over one million dollars to support national responses in Nigeria, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Côte d’Ivoire. These funds are being used to procure personal protective equipment, dispatch rapid response teams, donate vaccines, and conduct health worker training. Surveillance and diagnostic capacities have also been strengthened across priority countries.
Additional assistance includes nutritional support for Togo and cross-border epidemiological surveillance involving Mali, Ghana, Burkina Faso, Benin, Niger, Guinea-Bissau and The Gambia.
However, director of Guinea’s Health Promotion Service, Dr. Moussa Soumah warned that risk communication and community engagement (RCCE) efforts remain underfunded and undervalued.
“Whenever budgets are tight, communication is the first to suffer. But if we do not engage communities before, during, and after outbreaks, we are not preventing – we are reacting,” he said.
Soumah called for sustainable financing for RCCE infrastructure, the institutionalisation of community participation in health decision-making, and stronger systems for managing health misinformation and rumours.
“Listen. Trust. Include. These must be the pillars of our response,” he said.
He also outlined the achievements of the ECOWAS RCCE Network, which has developed culturally appropriate communication tools and trained focal points in Liberia, Sierra Leone and The Gambia. Through partnerships with local radio stations, the network has actively engaged youth and women to strengthen grassroots mobilisation.
According to Soumah, the network’s key strategies include quarterly knowledge-sharing forums, a technical support committee that meets every two weeks and a regional RCCE framework that guides national communication strategies. These efforts, he noted, are aimed at embedding RCCE within broader surveillance and case management systems while advancing a One Health approach that recognises the interconnection between human, animal and environmental health.
“We need to stop treating RCCE as an afterthought. It must be embedded into health planning from the start,” he added.
RCCE technical lead at Africa CDC and national coordinator, Dr. Modou Njai emphasised that structural barriers continue to hinder an effective regional Mpox response. He cited weak coordination between district and grassroots responders, token representation by traditional leaders, and the limited involvement of women, youth, caregivers, and survivors in RCCE activities.
“Some communities still lack even a single trained communicator to go door-to-door. Many coordination meetings are attended by people who do not understand the local context,” Njai said.
He warned that misinformation and stigma – such as claims that Mpox is a divine punishment or spreads through food – discourage people from seeking care and delay case detection.
“We must change the narrative through trusted messengers. Survivors and local influencers need to be at the centre of this effort,” he added.
Offering a national perspective, a senior health official from Ghana, Marbel Asafo shared her country’s Mpox containment strategy and behavioural insights. Ghana, which reported its first Mpox case in May 2022, has confirmed 170 cases across 12 of its 16 regions, with the Western Region and Greater Accra emerging as hotspots.
She identified several high-risk behaviours, including the consumption of bushmeat, grooming practices involving close skin contact, use of public transport, barbershop visits and ‘Okada’ (motorbike taxi) usage.
“Some people linked Mpox to corruption, curses, or conspiracies. Early on, it was difficult to gain public trust,” Asafo said.
To counter misinformation, Ghana launched a national RCCE subcommittee, activated community information centres and rolled out awareness campaigns using posters, jingles and local language discussion guides. High-risk groups – hunters, meat vendors, hairdressers, ‘Okada’ riders and miners – were prioritised in outreach efforts.
The country also deployed digital rumour-tracking tools to classify misinformation by theme, including fear of isolation and distrust of authorities. Asafo said these insights were used to develop community radio content and local interventions that addressed concerns in relatable ways.
“Our goal was not just to inform but to build trust and promote behaviour change, especially around hygiene and early symptom recognition,” she said.
She urged other West African countries to invest in community-owned platforms, foster cross-border collaboration and sustain RCCE funding beyond emergency periods.
Speakers at the webinar agreed that Mpox prevention must evolve from an emergency model to a long-term, proactive strategy rooted in community empowerment. They stressed the need for governments to mainstream RCCE into national public health budgets and establish local systems that ensure community voices are not just heard but lead health planning and implementation.
Science Nigeria reports that participants also called on donors and global health partners to fund RCCE systems alongside diagnostics and vaccines, noting that behaviour change cannot be achieved without sustained engagement and trust.
The event concluded with a joint call to action: strengthen local health systems, fight misinformation with evidence-based messaging and build a new model of epidemic response where communities are the drivers, not just the recipients, of public health interventions.
Recall that Mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, is a viral zoonotic disease endemic in parts of West and Central Africa. Its recent resurgence has raised alarms across the continent, with health experts emphasising the importance of stigma-free messaging, timely detection and community resilience.
The regional response being championed by Africa CDC and ECOWAS signals a critical shift toward integrated, community-first approaches in epidemic preparedness and response across West Africa.
