Mpox Public Health Emergency Declaration Ends

Good news from the Human Rights Campaign as the Mpox Public Health Emergency Declaration ends. Mpox, previously known as “monkey pox”, emerged as a public health menace early in 2022 and one that largely affected men who have sex with men. The disease, which is mostly seen in sub-Saharan Africa, started appearing in Europe early last year and spread to the U.S. by late spring. Official response to the outbreak, which is seldom fatal but does cause painful skin eruptions, was slow at first but prompted by LGBTQ+ groups, the government ramped up efforts to get vaccines to the gay male community.

Check out HRC’s Sexual Health Resource Page: https://www.hrc.org/resources/sexual-health

More from HRC:

Human Rights Campaign on End of Mpox Public Health Emergency Declaration: “Today We Enter a New Phase in a Continuing Fight”

As Mpox Public Health Emergency Declaration Ends, HRC Looks Ahead to Next Phase: Vaccinations, Prevention, and Partnerships with Community-Based Organizations

WASHINGTON — Today, the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) – the nation’s largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ+) civil rights organization – marked the end of the Mpox Public Health Emergency, lauding the incredible efforts by the LGBTQ+ community to remain healthy while noting that Mpox continues to have disproportionately severe impacts on Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) communities and individuals living with HIV.

HRC has taken an active role in the fight against Mpox as a natural extension of its pre-existing work to address health inequities within the LGBTQ+ community, immediately building a resource page to help educate people about Mpox. In September, as the virus was increasing in prevalence, HRC joined with a host of other advocacy organizations to ask Congress for $4.5 billion to combat Mpox, putting a stake in the ground as to the importance of fighting against the outbreak. It made a further ask for $900 million to combat the outbreak in December, calling for funding to restore the vaccine stockpile, expand cities’ testing capacity, and expand community-based organizations’ ability to connect individuals with care. Throughout the public health emergency, HRC has partnered with community-based organizations like the Valley AIDS Council in Texas to connect LGBTQ+ people, particularly Black and Latinx gay, bisexual, and other same-gender-loving men, with clinicians and host vaccine drives, increasing vaccine equity in the communities that were impacted most.

The Human Rights Campaign is America’s largest civil rights organization working to achieve equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ+) people. HRC envisions a world where LGBTQ+ people are embraced as full members of society at home, at work and in every community.