R-Evolution WorldWide had the pleasure of being invited to the 3rd meeting of the community of practice (CoP) for social and behavioural evidence for mpox, which was held on Tuesday 15 July 2025.

The meeting focused on strengthening the evidence base for community-centered health emergency responses, particularly in the context of the mpox outbreak.

Key outcome from the meeting was the following:

• Investigate the feasibility of having pre-approved emergency research protocols that can be quickly adapted.
• Gather evidence on the effectiveness of pre-approved emergency research protocols, including where they worked well and where they didn’t, to inform guidance and standard operating procedures.
• Explore the possibility of having a fast-track ethics review process for emergency research protocols.
• Develop an interdisciplinary preparedness hub at the national, state, or regional level to help research consortia come together before emergencies.
• Advocate for standardization of pricing and costs related to ethics review processes to enable quicker progress.
• Collaborate with WHO on testing and piloting their generic social and behavioral sciences research protocol for emergencies.

During the meeting, the workshop held on 27/28 Nov 2024 in Kinshasa has been mentioned, attended by diverse participants including religious leaders, to emphasize the importance of building trust with communities and articulating the rights of research participants. Dr. Dario Scaramuzzi, CEO of R-Evolution WorldWide and coordinator of MPOX-PROBE project, has been part of this important meeting to strengthening the evidence base for community-centered health emergency responses in the context of the mpox outbreak.