Africa must be part of a united global fight against the monkey’s smallpox, the World Health Organization’s Africa Office said, as countries in Europe, the United States and elsewhere respond to unusual outbreaks of the disease.
“We need to have a global response connected to monkeypox to prevent it from becoming endemic in more countries,” Dr. Matshidiso Moeti, WHO’s director for Africa, said in an online briefing.
As developing countries find ways to limit the spread of monkeypox, “it’s very important that … we make sure we share these tools, we create capabilities around the world to respond to these outbreaks,” he said. .
“What is extremely important now is to avoid any possibility of recurrence of unequal access to the COVID-19 vaccines experienced by African countries at the beginning of the pandemic,” Moeti said.
Smallpox is commonly found in West and Central African countries with rainforests, but the disease has recently been discovered in more than 20 countries, including Britain, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Switzerland, the United States and Israel. and Australia.
More than 500 cases have been reported, many apparently related to sexual activity in two recent radishes in Europe. No deaths were reported.