School-based interventions on Mpox: A scoping review

Background and AimsThe 2022 multicountry mpox outbreak necessitated the declaration of mpox as a public health emergency. This is the first time a wide mpox spread and human-to-human transmission are recorded in several countries outside West and Central Africa. The outbreak reveals a strong need for wider intervention to increase awareness and control measures on mpox, especially in schools. This scoping review aims to summarize the existing evidence concerning school-based interventions on mpox globally. MethodsThe review methodology was based on the Arksey and O'Malley guidelines and it was reported in strict adherence with the PRISMA-ScR checklist. Ten databases were searched to retrieve literature relevant to the review topic. Thereafter, the retrieved literature were deduplicated and screened for inclusion into the review based on a set of eligibility criteria. Only one journal paper, a short communication on the national monkeypox outbreak in England, satisfied the selection criteria and was included in the review. Data extracted from the included paper were collated, summarized, and presented. ResultsThe paper described how suspected cases of mpox infection were managed in some school settings through vaccination and self-isolation approaches and revealed a low (11%) mpox vaccination uptake rate in school-setting. The preventive methods adopted, such as the exclusion of exposed persons from school (in three school settings) and separation of those exposed those who were not in contact with the affected persons (one school setting), played a major role in the low transmission rate reported. This review also found a huge dearth of literature on school-based interventions on mpox despite its global spread. ConclusionWith the call for a multisectoral approach in the fight against mpox, it pays to leverage on the potential of school settings in public health actions against mpox.