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August 17, 2024 – Failure to show solidarity with the African country at the centre of the MOX outbreak would put the world at risk and undermine preparedness for future pandemics, health leaders say.
The World Health Organization declared an international public health emergency on Wednesday due to a growing number of cases and its spread outside the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the virus is endemic.
So far this year, Africa has reported more than 18,700 cases (including more than 500 deaths), already more than in all of 2023. The Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has declared a public health emergency on the continent.
“The consequences of failing to respond strongly to these announcements could be severe and could lead to further spread of new, more dangerous variants,” said Dr. Ebere Okereke, associate research fellow at Chatham House’s global health program. “The risk of not acting now is not just a risk for Africa, but for the rest of the world.”
He said the two declarations “provide an opportunity to test the global response to health emergencies in the post-Covid-19 era to demonstrate that fair lessons have been learned.”
The response to the pandemic has damaged relations between rich and poor countries, with resources including vaccines, tests and personal protective equipment taking longer to reach developing countries than in wealthy nations.
Negotiations on a planned pandemic pact that would set out how the world should respond to major disease outbreaks have failed to meet a deadline to reach an agreement at this year’s World Health Assembly in Geneva. Issues of equity have proved a key sticking point, including how to guarantee developing countries access to medicines and treatments in exchange for their efforts to obtain information about pathogens spreading in their territories.
Okereke said the international community’s response to the declarations would be a “litmus test of the possible effectiveness of a future pandemic treaty.”
Nick Dearden, director of Global Justice, said: “Acne has been endemic in a handful of African countries for years. However, despite the availability of treatments, no serious action was taken until the outbreak became a threat in the West.
“We have seen the same inequalities during the coronavirus pandemic, with the loss of life in the Global South being shamefully treated as collateral damage in the pursuit of ever-increasing pharmaceutical profiteering. It is inevitable, then, that trust in the West in the Global South will plummet.”
Dearden said pharmaceutical companies “continue to block equitable access to vaccines in their pursuit of ever greater profits” and called on wealthy countries including the UK to “stand up to Big Pharma” and support measures in treaty negotiations on the pandemic “that will stop this from happening”. “Gross inequalities are on display time and again.”
The United States said it would donate 50,000 doses of the Jynneos MPOX vaccine to the Democratic Republic of Congo. But in the long term, health leaders at the Africa CDC said a sustainable supply chain, including manufacturing on the continent, is necessary.
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