By Echey Ijezie
Even after the novel coronavirus exposed glaring flaws in the world’s collective ability to respond to infectious disease outbreaks, we are seemingly back to the old ways, as evidenced by the global response to the now endemic monkeypox.
The world may once again lose a chance to control a pandemic. The zoonotic viral disease, which is already endemic in 10 countries in West and Central Africa, only drew the world’s attention after affecting people in rich countries in the Global North.
Even
after the disruption caused by Covid-19, wealthy countries’ self-destructive
unwillingness to cooperate for the benefit of the entire global population is
evident again.
This year, there have been dozens of monkeypox cases in Cameroon, Nigeria, and the Central African Republic (CAR), with the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) reporting the highest number of infections with over 2,938 cases and 110 deaths.
