Countries need to work more together to stop the rapidly spreading outbreak of monkeypox, “no matter the nationality, skin color or religion of the affected population,” the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Speaking from Dakar, Senegal, Ibrahima Soce Fall, WHO Assistant Director-General for Emergencies, said that “we have been working on monkeypox in Africa for several years, but nobody was interested.”
Once referred to as a “neglected tropical disease,” he said that WHO had been working on monkeypox with very few resources.
However, once northern countries began getting affected by the disease “the world reacted.”
“It was the same with the Zika virus, and we have to stop this discrimination,” Fall said.
Public health emergency
On 23 July, the WHO declared the spread of the virus to be a public health emergency of international concern — the organization’s highest level of alert.
In this way, WHO aims to enhance coordination, the cooperation of nations, and global solidarity.
“The world must be involved to protect these populations, no matter their nationality, their skin color, or their religion,” Fall said.
“I think it is extremely important, and now that more than 70 countries are affected in the world, everyone is getting active.”
Resources for Africa
Until this year, the virus that causes monkeypox has rarely spread outside Africa, where it is endemic.
But reports of a handful of cases in Britain in early May signaled that the outbreak had moved into Europe.
“It is important, and we have already been doing so, to accelerate the research and development agenda on monkeypox, so that the most affected African countries can have the resources to prevent and fight against monkeypox,” Fall explained.
Time for global investment
Although a vaccine to prevent monkeypox was approved in 2019, availability remains limited at the moment.
“We have had many cases in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Nigeria, Central African Republic, Cameroon, and some sporadic cases in countries such as Ghana, Benin,” Fall said. “I think it is time that the world invests, so that these populations that are living in rural areas and in forest areas, can be protected.”
She said, “If we only treat what is happening in Europe and America, we will only treat the symptoms of monkeypox, but not the real disease. It is important that the world gets mobilized to this kind of disease.”