OTTAWA:  The government of Canada is collaborating with community-based organisations to handle the monkeypox outbreak across the nation, saidthe Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).

The PHAC said in a press statement that it will be providing 280,000 Canadian dollars (USD 350,000) to community-based organisations in Montreal, Toronto, and Ottawa, the cities hardest hit by the monkeypox outbreak. As of Wednesday, the health department had identified 604 cases of monkeypox across the nation.

Minister of Health Jean-Yves Duclos said, "Every community has its own unique ways of sharing information," and he added that this funding will allow the organisations to scale up what they are already doing, raising and maintaining awareness of the risks of monkeypox and disseminating information in the most efficient and compelling ways possible.

\According to the PHAC, the financing would enable the groups that support homosexual and bisexual men to better meet the needs of their communities for prevention, education, awareness, and anti-stigma initiatives.

TO ensure coordination of the national strategic response, it is closely collaborating with provincial and territorial public health partners. It also claimed that provinces and territories decide on their immunisation programmes based on their particular circumstances, the The organisation said.

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