Health
MPOX: Nigeria, Others To Benefit As WHO Plans $135m Fund

Nigeria and several other countries that have been recently hit by the Monkey Pox (MPOX) outbreak, stand to benefit from a $135m funding plan by the World Health Organization (WHO).
A statement by the organisation on Monday said the fund was necessary as it has launched a global Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan to stop outbreaks of human-to-human transmission of mpox through coordinated global, regional, and national efforts.
This follows the declaration of a public health emergency of international concern by the WHO Director-General on 14 August.
Although the current plan is subject to inputs by WHO’s member states, who were briefed on the plan on 23 August, the plan covers the six-month period of September 2024-February 2025.
During the period, a $135m funding need is envisioned for the response by WHO, member states, and partners, including the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) which Nigeria is a member, communities, and researchers, among others.
The plan, which builds on the temporary recommendations and standing recommendations issued by the WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus focuses on implementing comprehensive surveillance, prevention, readiness and response strategies; advancing research and equitable access to medical countermeasures like diagnostic tests and vaccines; minimising animal-to-human transmission; and empowering communities to actively participate in outbreak prevention and control.
Strategic vaccination efforts will focus on individuals at the highest risk, including close contacts of recent cases and healthcare workers, to interrupt transmission chains.At the global level, the emphasis will be on strategic leadership, timely evidence-based guidance, and access to medical countermeasures for the most at-risk groups in affected countries.
WHO said it is working with a broad range of international, regional, national and local partners and networks to enhance coordination across key areas of preparedness, readiness and response.
This includes engagement with the ACT-Accelerator Principals group; the Standing Committee on Health Emergency Prevention, Preparedness and Response; the R&D Blueprint for Epidemics; and the interim Medical Counter Measures Network (i-MCM Net).
“The mpox outbreaks in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and neighbouring countries can be controlled and can be stopped.
“Doing so requires a comprehensive and coordinated plan of action between international agencies and national and local partners, civil society, researchers and manufacturers, and our Member States.
This SPRP provides that plan, based on the principles of equity, global solidarity, community empowerment, human rights, and coordination across sectors,” said Dr Ghebreyesus.
Nigeria Intensifies Surveillance As Mpox Cases Hit 39The Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) said a total of 39 confirmed cases and zero deaths from mpox have been recorded across 33 states and the Federal Capital Territory.
Director General of the NCDC, Jide Idris, made the revelation at a press briefing on the declaration of mpox as a public health emergency of international concern earlier in the month.
He said the NCDC is intensifying surveillance across Nigeria to swiftly detect and respond to new cases.
According to Idris, the NCDC all port health services across all five international airports, 10 seaports, and 51 land/foot crossing borders are on high alert.
He added that some states have also been put on high alert including Lagos, Enugu, Kano, Rivers, Cross-River, Akwa-Ibom, Adamawa, Taraba, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja.
WHO recently declared the mpox surge in Africa a global public health emergency, worried by the rise in cases in DRC and the spread to nearby countries.
The WHO called a meeting of experts to study the outbreak and make a recommendation to Dr Ghebreyesus.
“Today, the emergency committee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a public health emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice,” Tedros told a press conference.
“This is something that should concern us all. WHO is committed in the days and weeks ahead to coordinate the global response, working closely with each of the affected countries, and leveraging our on-the-ground presence, to prevent transmission, treat those infected, and save lives.
”The decision comes after the African Union’s health watchdog declared its public health emergency over the growing outbreak.
Mpox has swept through the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus formerly called monkeypox was first discovered in humans in 1970, and spread to other countries.
Tedros said the more than 14,000 cases and 524 deaths reported so far this year in DR Congo have already exceeded last year’s total.
Health
Nurses Back to Work After Four-Day Nationwide Strike
A circular titled “Suspension of the Ongoing Nationwide Nurses’ Strike” signed by the association’s National President, Haruna Mamman, and General Secretary, T.A. Shettima, confirmed the development.

The National Association of Nigerian Nurses and Midwives (NAMMM) has suspended its nationwide warning strike.
A circular titled “Suspension of the Ongoing Nationwide Nurses’ Strike” signed by the association’s National President, Haruna Mamman, and General Secretary, T.A. Shettima, confirmed the development.
The statement said that the decision was made during a virtual meeting of NANNM’s National Executive Council.
“The strike has been suspended. Nurses and midwives are to resume duty immediately,” he confirmed.
It partly reads, “NEC acknowledges the positive steps taken by the Federal Government in responding to the nine core demands of NANNM, particularly the commitment to clear timelines for implementation.
“In view of the formal agreement reached, and in line with the principle of dialogue and good faith, NEC hereby suspends the ongoing nationwide strike action with immediate effect.
“NEC has directed the national leadership to continue monitoring the implementation of the signed MoU and track the government’s compliance with the agreed timelines.
“State councils are directed to mobilise members for the immediate resumption of duty. ..”
Health
Nigerian Nurses in Govt -Owned Hospitals Beginning Nationwide Strike Tonight
“Private hospitals are not included. This is because for now the private practitioner nurses are not spread over Nigeria,”

Twenty-five thousand nurses, under the umbrella of the National Association of Nigeria Nurses and Midwives (NANNM), Federal Health Institutions Sector, will begin a seven-day nationwide strike, tonight.
The strike is in response to issues which include poor remuneration, staff shortages, unpaid allowances, and unsafe working conditions.
On July 14, 2025, the union issued a 15-day ultimatum to the federal government, demanding immediate intervention to prevent a total healthcare shutdown.
The National Chairman of NANNM-FHI, Morakinyo Rilwan, said that the strike would involve a total withdrawal of services across all federal health institutions.
The 15-day ultimatum ends by Tuesday, July 29, 2025, by midnight, and the warning strike commences on Wednesday, July 30, 2025, at 12.01am.
“The action would include 74 federal hospitals – teaching hospitals, federal medical centres, specialist hospitals like orthopaedic, neuro-psychiatric, and eye centres, as well as all general hospitals and primary healthcare centres in the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, and 774 local government areas.”
Health
UK doctors on five-day strike, shun PM’s plea
Starmer on Friday appealed to the doctors, saying patients were being put at risk and the strikes would “cause real damage”.
(AFP)

• Uk doctors on strike / AFP
Thousands of UK doctors launched a five-day strike early Friday after talks with the Labour government for a new pay increase failed to reach a deal.
Doctors were out on picket lines outside hospitals after negotiations with the government went down the wire late Thursday, without reaching an accord.
The move comes after the doctors accepted a pay rise offer totalling 22.3 per cent over two years in September, soon after Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labour Party took power.
Resident doctors — those below consultant level — have said they felt they had “no choice” but to strike again to reverse “pay erosion” since 2008.
Starmer on Friday appealed to the doctors, saying patients were being put at risk and the strikes would “cause real damage”.
Launching a strike “will mean everyone loses,” Starmer wrote in the Times, highlighting the added strain it would put on the already struggling National Health Service (NHS).
He appealed to the doctors not to “follow” their union, the British Medical Association (BMA) “down this damaging road.
“Our NHS and your patients need you, ” Starmer warned.” Lives will be blighted by this decision,” Starmer warned.
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