Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what recent discussions he has had with the World Health Organisation on (a) tackling and (b) the potential threat posed to the UK by mpox.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) is engaged with our international partners, including the World Health Organisation (WHO), European, US and Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and national public health agencies, ensuring we receive updates about international cases in a timely fashion. This information is then fed into the ongoing risk assessments that UKHSA are carrying out as the current mpox outbreak evolves.

In addition, I met with WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus in July to discuss how we can work with the World Health Organisation (WHO) on a range of issues, including mpox.

The UK is the largest flexible donor to the WHO globally, helping them to allocate resources where they are needed most, including responding to health emergencies such as mpox.