The politics and economics of mpox

Africa's mpox epidemic stems from delayed responses, neglect of its health risks and the stark vaccine apartheid

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WHEN IT arrived finally in Kinshasa on Thursday September 5, one could only wonder at the time and effort it took for a small consignment of vaccines from Europe to reach the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), the epicentre of the mpox (earlier called monkeypox) outbreak in Africa. The picture of the container of desperately needed vaccines, 100,000 doses donated by the EU, unloaded on a trolley at the airport, is reflective of the global politics, economics and bureaucratic heaviness that dictate how an epidemic in a poor country is handled.

Two days later, as this column was being written, another 200,000 doses sent by the EU arrived in the DRC capital and a few other African countries where mpox cases are spiking. Yet, together the donation is just a fraction of what is needed to combat the epidemic which has so far hit a dozen countries in the continent.

In the eight months of 2024, over 18,000 cases of mpox have been reported in DRC alone which has recorded 629 deaths, the majority of them children. As before, and most recently with the COVID-19 pandemic, Africa is desperately short of vaccines, not to mention testing kits and therapies to help fight a disease which is a throwback to the times when smallpox was the deadliest scourge in the world. DRC needs 3.5 million doses to stop the spread of the disease while other African states need 10 million doses. Vaccine though is the best tool to control the epidemic and what works is the smallpox vaccine; who has any shots to spare?