WCC calls faith communities to work to overcome Mpox outbreak

Photo: Marcelo Schneider/WCC

Source: WCC

The World Council of Churches (WCC) is calling on faith communities to work alongside governments and wider civil society to overcome the Mpox outbreak.

The World Health Organisation declared, on 14 August, Mpox as an international public health emergency. The current strain is transmitted through routine physical contact, even without intimate contact.

For most people, the infection causes a relatively mild disease characterised by fever, headaches, rashes, and blisters on the skin. But for people with weakened immune systems, the outcomes of the disease can be worse, causing severe illness with more serious skin lesions and other problems that can lead to death. Four out of 100 people with Mpox are estimated to manifest severe symptoms of this current strain.

WCC general secretary Rev Prof Dr Jerry Pillay said that this public health emergency obliges the world to work together, collaborate closely, be committed, and invest in overcoming this emerging crisis.

"Vaccines are one component of the strategy," Pillay said. "Countries in the global north have national stockpiles, possibly of millions of doses that can potentially be released to the needy."

The outbreak can only be curbed by the full spectrum of a good public health response, Pillay said.

He called on churches and faith communities to be "informed and to communicate reliable information regarding the outbreak and to work against misinformation," adding that churches can also educate "communities in the prevention of transmission" and "prevent the stigmatization of people affected."

Churches can also provide care - including spiritual and psychosocial support - for those affected by Mpox, Pillay noted.

They can also advocate "for countries in the global north to release stockpiles of Mpox vaccine for use in most affected regions," he said, and for "functioning health systems that provide universal healthcare."

Pillay concluded by calling for sharing the common burdens of the world, so that the challenges become bearable and surmountable. "By upholding each other, we uphold humanity and all creation," he concluded.

Read the full statement