Cases of monkeypox have so far been recorded in at least 74 countries. Such a finding prompted, among others, the Emergency Committee of the World Health Organization (WHO) to meet and trigger the highest level of alert of the organization. African countries have recorded seven of 12 deaths so far, but as with Covid-19 they have seen high-income countries split available stocks vaccines and treatments. The WHO statement itself prompted allegations that Africa was being ignored, given that monkeypox was already endemic in several African countries. Experts fear that once the epidemic is brought under control in other parts of the world, the emergency surrounding it will subside, plunging the continent into the same situation as before. Only one company, Bavarian Nordic, holds the patent to produce the monkeypox vaccine and its production has temporarily halted.
Countries are now competing for the 16.4 million doses that currently exist, and no new supplies will be available until 2023. The United States has claimed the bulk of the available doses, and the remaining supplies could go to the most bidders, according to the WHO. For existing doses, Africa has not received any doses of monkeypox vaccine, despite WHO stockpiles. ” The tools to detect and prevent the epidemic have been available, but not for Africa writes Dr. Githinji Gitahi, CEO of Amref Health Africa Group. Monkeypox is a disease that has been circulating in West and Central Africa for decades, where it has received little attention from global health officials or pharmaceutical companies. But there have been no increased efforts to vaccinate the vulnerable population. “ Nigeria is the missed signal said WHO’s Ambrose Talisuna. ” It was a failure for all of us not to have seen this and developed tools “, he lamented. Besides vaccines, there are also not enough tests and trained health workers to administer them, to understand the scale of the outbreak and how it is being transmitted. Infectious disease expert Boghuma Titanji says: “ I would like to see something beyond simple declarations and calls for solidarity ».
Monkey pox or simian pox is a rare viral infectious disease caused by the monkeypox virus. The latter was first isolated in 1958 from monkeys bred for research that showed symptoms similar to those of smallpox. The first human case was recorded in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). After its eradication at the end of 1979, the virus became the most frequent orthopoxvirus. Since then, monkeypox has continued to occur in Central and West African countries, including a major outbreak in 2017 in Nigeria and an increase in incidence in recent years in the DRC – 6,000 cases per year. Two distinct clades are identified: the West African clade and the Congo Basin or Central African clade. Outside death endemic areas, an epidemic was recorded in Texas in 2003 and imported cases were diagnosed in the United Kingdom, Singapore, Israel and the United States between 2018 and 2021. The infection appears to be a mild illness in the majority of cases . But the disease is more serious in children, pregnant women and immunocompromised people (especially people infected with HIV who are not on treatment).