Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE)

The focus of actors working with RCCE should be to support and engage communities, ensuring their perspective and realities drive the mpox response interventions, and equipping them with knowledge and skills so that they practice key public health recommendations, access the needed services, and are protected from exposure to and the impacts of mpox.

RCCE must take into consideration the uncertainties regarding the transmission dynamics of mpox and its impact on children and pregnant women and have a strong focus on preventing misinformation and stigma.

These are some of the ways in which RCCE actors can understand and address stigma:

• Track perceptions and adjust RCCE plans: Collect community feedback and use social listening and infodemic insights to monitor mpox-related narratives that impact public perceptions and behaviours. Adjust RCCE plans accordingly.
• Involve communities: Engage communities facing stigma in the development of all interventions, materials, and messages to ensure their perspectives are reflected.
• Align RCCE plans with overall response: Carefully review and implement RCCE strategies in alignment with the broader mpox response and vaccine rollout. Avoid overpromising in communications to prevent a gap between expectations and service delivery.
• Avoid comparisons to HIV: Since both mpox and HIV are potentially stigmatized diseases, avoid making comparisons to prevent confusion or the spread of misinformation.
• Work with community organizations: Partner with organizations representing stigmatized groups to generate more accurate population estimates and other data for informed microplanning.
• Assess vaccine confidence: Conduct assessments of vaccine confidence among priority populations, particularly those experiencing stigma. Explore how stigma impacts their views on the vaccine, vaccinators, the health system, and those prioritized for vaccination.
• Ensure second-dose follow-up: Develop strategies to recall individuals from stigmatized communities for their second vaccine dose, whether through text messaging, in-person follow-up, or other means.
• Link vaccination to non-stigmatized services: Integrate mpox vaccination with non-stigmatized health and social services, such as offering condoms, blood pressure checks for adults, and routine vaccines, nutrition counselling, or Vitamin A supplements for children.