On November 27–28, 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO), Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) and Global Health EDCTP3 jointly convened over 70 stakeholders in Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo. The purpose of the meeting was to advance community-centred, evidence informed public health responses to the ongoing mpox public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC). Participants included Ministries of Health of Burundi, Congo, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Nigeria, South Africa and Uganda, as well as multidisciplinary researchers and academics, operational partners,
and civil society organizations. The meeting aimed to:
– Review existing knowledge and identify evidence gaps related to the social and behavioural dimensions of the mpox outbreak.
– Strengthen collaboration between stakeholders.
– Establish priorities and processes for implementing context-specific social and behavioural research and analytics.

The meeting underscored the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, the
integration of social and behavioural research into operational responses. The meeting highlighted the central role of community engagement in shaping effective interventions, while also stressing both the need for a supportive policy environment and the pivotal role of policy-makers in linking research and response.

Prof. Didier Bompangue (UNIKIN, DRC) and Dr. Dario Scaramuzzi (R-EvoWW, Italy) joined the meeting and presented the MPOX-PROBE work package on community perceptions (WP5, KAP and behavioural study in RoC and DRC). The project has generated a lot of interest, as it is a unique, combining One Health with Social and Behavioural Science, allowing to understand how social interaction between humans, but also between humans and animals and between humans and environment, could influence Mpox outbreak.