Africa’s mpox outbreaks result from neglect and world’s inability to stop epidemics, experts say

AP Medical Writer

LONDON (AP) — A leading African scientist says the growing mpox outbreaks in Africa that triggered the World Health Organization’s emergency declaration are largely the result of decades of neglect and the global community’s inability to stop sporadic epidemics among a population with little immunity against the smallpox-related disease. Dr. Dimie Ogoina, who chaired WHO’s mpox emergency committee, says negligence led to a new, more transmissible version of the virus emerging in countries with few resources to stop outbreaks. Ogoina says that mpox had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Africa before the disease prompted the 2022 outbreak in more than 70 countries.