We were so thrilled and fortunate to connect with so many of our partners in the fight to address MPV – and the epidemic of STDs – at the U.S. Conference on HIV/AIDS. As our executive director, David Harvey, noted in his introduction to the event’s Monkeypox Town Hall, partnerships have been the driving force that has turned the tide on this outbreak – but the work is not done yet. David noted that our collective work on MPV has demonstrated just how necessary a syndemic approach is to ending STDs, HIV – and now MPV.

We also circulated a partnership letter at USCHA so individuals and organizations can advocate for the White House’s $4.5 billion response ask in the omnibus package that Congress will vote on in December. By the end of the conference, the letter had more than 400 signatures. You can still sign on.

On Wednesday, we hosted the latest meeting of the National MPV Working Group. The group talked about the ongoing need for funding and the prospects for the White House’s funding ask. Although numbers are declining, the need is still clear.

On Thursday, NCSD hosted an online message testing panel with the CDC on the health messages they’ve put out to help people understand their risk for MPV and the needs. In the coming weeks, we’ll be doing more work, analysis, and collaboration to improve message effectiveness.