As the World Health Organization convenes its emergency committee Thursday to consider if the outbreak of monkeypox warrants being declared a global emergency, some experts say WHO's decision to act only after the disease spilled into the West could perpetuate the grotesque inequalities that arose between rich and poor.
The United Nations would consider the monkeypox outbreak to be a global emergency if it were declared. It would make monkeypox the same as the COVID-19 Pandemic and the ongoing efforts to eradicate the disease.
Since developed countries are already shutting down the epidemic, many scientists don't think a declaration would help.
The recent monkeypox epidemic identified in more than 40 countries, mostly in Europe, was described last week by the WHO Director-General. One version of the disease can kill up to 10% of people in central and western Africa. No deaths have been reported in the epidemic outside of Africa.
"If WHO was really worried about monkeypox spread, they could have convened their emergency committee years ago when it recurred in Nigeria and no one knew why we suddenly had hundreds of cases." He wondered if WHO only called their experts when the disease appeared in white countries.
Last month, monkeypox caused a large outbreak outside of Africa. A leading adviser to the World Health Organization said last month that the surge of cases in Europe was likely tied to sexual activity among gay and bisexual men in Spain and Belgium.
More than 3,300 cases of monkeypox have been confirmed by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The majority of cases are in Europe. More than 1,400 cases have been seen in Africa so far this year.
David Fidler is a senior fellow at the Council on Foreign Relations.
It seems like a double standard that WHO only raised the alarm when monkeypox spread to rich countries. He said the global community was struggling to make sure the world's poor were protected against the coronaviruses and that it was unclear if Africans wanted monkeypox vaccines.
It is in the West's interest to stop monkeypox from being exported, so it may be a bit patronizing to send them.
Britain, which has the biggest monkeypox outbreak beyond Africa, could get vaccine doses from a vaccine sharing mechanism proposed by the World Health Organization.
The vast majority of cases in Europe have been in men who are gay or bisexual and other men who have sex with men, but scientists warn that anyone in close contact with an HIV positive person is at risk of getting the disease. Most people with monkeypox don't need medical care after they recover from the disease.
It's not clear what impact the WHO announcement will have.
COVID-19 was declared an international emergency by the World Health Organization in January 2020. It wasn't until March that the organization described it as a Pandemic. The World Health Organization was slammed for its multiple mistakes during the Pandemic.
The WHO doesn't want to be the last to declare a monkeypox emergency. There is a public health emergency that needs to be addressed.
The vice chancellor of the University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa said that he wasn't sure if a global emergency declaration would help.
When it comes to dealing with epidemics, Africa does know how to deal with them. He said that the best way to stop the outbreak is by isolating patients and educating the public.
He said, "Maybe they need vaccines in Europe to stop monkeypox, but here we have been able to control it with very simple measures."
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