Africans see the unfairness of the monkeypox reaction elsewhere

Some doctors acknowledge the ugly reality as health authorities in Europe and elsewhere deploy vaccines and medicines to eradicate the largest monkeypox outbreaks across Africa. It for decades.

More than 500 cases of monkeypox have been reported in countries such as the United Kingdom, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Israel and Australia, many of which are associated with sexual activity in two recent rave in Europe. Seems to be doing. No deaths have been reported.

Authorities in many European countries and the United States have proposed immunizing people and are considering the use of antiviral drugs. On Thursday, the World Health Organization will convene a special meeting to discuss issues related to the priorities of monkeypox research.

On the other hand, about three times as many cases have been reported this year on the African Continent.

According to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 1,400 monkeypox cases have occurred and 63 people have died in four countries where the disease is endemic (Cameroon, Central African Republic, Congo and Nigeria). So far, health officials say that sequencing has not yet shown a direct link to outbreaks outside Africa.

Monkeypox belongs to the same viral family as smallpox, and according to WHO, the smallpox vaccine is estimated to be about 85% effective against smallpox.

Since identifying the case earlier this month, the UK has vaccinated more than 1,000 people at risk of getting the virus and purchased an additional 20,000 doses. European Union officials are in talks to purchase more smallpox vaccines from Bavarian Nordic, the only manufacturer of such vaccines licensed in Europe.

U.S. government officials have released about 700 doses of vaccine to the states where cases were reported.

Such measures are not routinely adopted in Africa.

Dr. Adesora Inca Ogunley, who heads the Monkeypox Working Group in Nigeria, said there are currently no vaccines or antivirals used for monkeypox in her country. She said that suspected monkeypox was quarantined, treated conservatively, and contact was monitored.

Ahmed Ogwell, acting director of the Africa CDC, said that Africa generally has only a “small stockpile” of smallpox vaccines, which it provides to healthcare professionals in the event of monkeypox outbreaks.

Dr. Jimmy Whitworth, an international public health professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said monkeypox due to limited vaccine supply and competing health priorities. It means that immunity to is not widely pursued in Africa.

“It’s a bit unpleasant to take different attitudes towards the types of resources we deploy, depending on where the case is,” he said. “When those interventions are not available to millions of Africans who need them, it reveals a moral failure.”

WHO has 31 million smallpox vaccines, most of which are stored in donor countries and are intended for rapid response to the recurrence of the disease declared eradicated in 1980.

No doses have been released from UN health agency stockpiles for monkeypox outbreaks in Central or West Africa.

Dr. Mike Ryan, WHO’s head of emergency, said authorities are considering allowing rich countries to use smallpox vaccines to limit the spread of monkeypox. WHO manages a similar mechanism to make vaccines for diseases such as yellow fever and meningitis available to poor countries, but such efforts have been used in countries where other methods of injection are possible. Not.

Nigerian virologist Oyewale Tomori, a member of several WHO advisory boards, said it may be justified to release smallpox vaccines from authorities’ stockpiles to prevent monkeypox epidemics in richer countries. As mentioned, he pointed out a contradiction in WHO’s strategy.

“A similar approach should have been adopted long ago to deal with the situation in Africa,” he said. “This is another example of how some countries are more equal than others.”

Some doctors have pointed out that the deadlocked efforts to understand monkeypox are now complicating efforts to treat patients. Most people experience symptoms such as fever, chills, and malaise. However, people with more serious illness often have rashes on their faces and hands that spread elsewhere.

Dr. Hugh Adler and colleagues recently published a paper suggesting that the antiviral drug Tecovirimat may help fight monkeypox. Approved in the United States for the treatment of smallpox, the drug was used in seven people infected with monkeypox in the United Kingdom between 2018 and 2021, but regulatory approval requires more details.

Adler, a researcher at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, said, “If you had previously considered getting this data, you wouldn’t be in this situation with potential treatment without sufficient evidence.” Stated.

He said many illnesses raised considerable money only after infecting people in developed countries.

For example, after a catastrophic Ebola outbreak in West Africa between 2014 and 2016, authorities finally seek approval for the Ebola vaccine when several Americans have the disease in more than 28,000 cases in Africa. Speeded up research and protocols. , Limit efforts over decades.

At a press conference on Wednesday, WHO Ryan said he was concerned that monkeypox would continue to spread to rich countries and was assessing how monkeypox could help stop the transmission of the disease there. Stated.

“During the last five to ten years, we certainly haven’t heard the same level of concern,” he said, repeating when thousands of people in the central and western parts of the African continent had the disease. Mentioned the epidemic of monkeypox. ..

Jay Chudy, a development expert living in Enugu, Nigeria, who has been reporting cases of monkeypox since 2017, hopes that the increased attention will ultimately help solve the problem. But nevertheless, he lamented the need for infection in rich countries for it to seem possible.

“You will find the new incident more deadly and dangerous than the one we have in Africa,” he said. “We are now seeing that it can be completely finished, because it is no longer just Africa. Now everyone is worried.”