Accra:Years of neglect of mpox in West and Central Africa have contributed to two preventable global health emergencies, a new report reveals. The report, titled 'Hiding in Plain Sight Mpox and the Cost of Neglecting Known Threats', highlights inadequate investment in surveillance, community health systems, vaccines, and diagnostics as key factors allowing the disease to spread beyond its traditional endemic regions.
According to Ghana News Agency, the report was authored by Dr. Els Torreele and other members of the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response (IPPPR). It underscores that mpox, once mainly reported in West and Central Africa and associated with contact with infected animals, has now spread to dozens of countries, with sustained human-to-human transmission making people a significant reservoir of the virus.
The report points out that the emergence of new viral variants has heightened risks to populations and placed additional pressure on overstretched health systems. It criticizes the international community for overlooking diseases with epidemic potential, emphasizing that preventable health emergencies signal failures in community health care, missed signals, and inadequate containment of pathogens.
The failure to contain mpox is attributed to missed opportunities in strengthening surveillance, research, and response systems in endemic countries before the disease escalated to an international emergency. Vaccines and treatments were available before 2022 but were not widely deployed until the disease spread internationally, affecting high-income countries.
The report highlights that vaccines were not made available in the original endemic regions, such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo, which reported about 2,000 suspected cases annually. It suggests that earlier intervention could have prevented mpox from becoming a global health concern, as evidenced by 145 countries reporting the disease over the last four years.
The report also emphasizes limited diagnostic capacity as a significant obstacle, with only about one-third of suspected cases in the DRC confirmed through testing. It calls for sustained investment in community health systems, affordable diagnostic tests, strategic vaccine stockpiles, and research led by affected regions, estimating an additional US$15 billion annually is needed to close the global pandemic preparedness gap.