On September 24, 2024, ICAP presented the Grand Rounds – Responding to Mpox: Voices from the Front Lines.

In August 2024, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared that the resurgence of mpox across the African region constituted a public health emergency. Mpox cases in the African region have exceeded 24,000 in 2024 alone, with the highest number of cases in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), the outbreak’s epicenter. As outbreaks of different clades – or types – of mpox continue to occur across Africa, with different modes of transmission and levels of risk, a coordinated international response to manage the spread of the virus is urgently needed. With presentations from the WHO and the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, this ICAP Grand Rounds explored updates on the mpox epidemic in the African region, including continent-wide response efforts.

This event was co-sponsored by ICAP and the New York City Pandemic Response Institute (PRI).

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Ngashi Ngongo, PhD, MD, MPH, Chief of Staff and Head of the Executive Office, Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

Dr. Ngashi Ngongo is a public health physician with over three decades of experience. He currently serves as chief of staff and head of the Executive Office at the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. Dr. Ngongo is also the founder of the International Centre for Health Systems Strengthening (ICHESS) in the U.S. Previously, he served as team leader of the UNICEF Global Malaria Program in New York, team leader of UNICEF’s ebola health response in Liberia and DRC, head of the UNICEF health and nutrition program in South Africa, in addition to many other roles. Dr. Ngongo has served on several international boards, including PROSAMI, Medicines for Malaria Venture, and Gavi. He is a lecturer at the School of Public Health, University of Lubumbashi, DRC.

Fiona Braka, MD, MPH, Emergency Response Manager, WHO Regional Office for Africa (AFRO)

Dr. Fiona Braka is the emergency response manager of the World Health Organization Regional Office for Africa, based in Brazzaville, Congo. She leads the regional response operations to acute and protracted health emergencies, including disease outbreaks and humanitarian crises. Her role also entails coordination of AFRO support to countries to strengthen their local capacities for emergency response through the AFRO EPR SURGE initiative. Dr. Braka has two decades of national and international experience with the World Health Organization (WHO). Before joining the regional office in 2021, she served in different roles in Nigeria, Ethiopia, and Uganda, where she led WHO efforts to eradicate wild polio virus and supported national governments to strengthen vaccination programs. Originally from Uganda, Dr. Braka holds a medical degree from Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda, and a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in Maryland, USA.