Strategy for prevention and control of mpox epidemic in China: a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis

On July 23, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the mpox epidemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), indicating the seriousness of the mpox epidemic. Mpox is a rare zoonotic infectious disease caused by mpox virus infection, mostly occurred among the men who have sex with men (MSM), but general populations are susceptible to the infection and the risk of imported infection is high. In this paper, we discussed the strategy for prevention and control of mpox epidemic in China using strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis based on the experience in the containment of severe acute respiratory syndromes (SARS) in 2003 and coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID - 19) in recent three years, for providing a reference to relevant decision - making.