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A mutated strain of the highly contagious and potentially deadly empox virus that started in the DRC has now spread to several African nations and infected thousands. The head of the World Health Organization now says potential spread of disease within Africa and beyond is quote very worrying.
Today, the Emergency Communtee met and advised me that in its view, the situation constitutes a publical emergency of international concern. I have accepted that advice.
More than fifteen thousand cases have been reported so far in the DRC, but at least six other African countries have seen cases, and Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Uganda have reported their first ever empox diagnoses.
We now have cross border transmission and the virus is now moving into countries where it hadn't been before. It seems to be almost all mostly human to human transmission.
On this episode of the Next Africa Podcast, we'll ask how well the region is responding to the empox outbreak and whether economies here can cope with another major health emergency.
The world cannot afford to don a bland eye to this crisis.
I'm Jennifer's Abasaga and this is the Next Africa Podcast, bringing you one story each week from the continent, driving the future of global growth with the context only Bloomberg can provide. Jenni's Q has been following the developments very closely for Bloomberg News and I'm delighted to say she's joining us now. Hi, Jennis, it's been a busy week for you.
Indeed, it's been quite a few big developments.
Thanks so much for being here. Let's just start here because emparks, obviously, as you're reporting now, it'es hit the headlines in twenty twenty two when outbreaks were reported all over the world. What's different about this current outbreak we're seeing.
Africa got no vaccines back in twenty twenty two and twenty twenty three, even though emparks is endemic in parts of the continents, and the strain that we are seeing now in this outbreak that is particularly concerning actually links to the endemic strain.
It's a offshoot of the endemic strain, and that's.
Called CLAID one, and CLAID one is a more virulent version and we are now seeing this mutated strain and it's spreading. We've seen it emanating out of Central Africa spread east and scientists are scrambling to get enough data on what exactly is going on. Surveillance is fairly sketchy. It's a difficult area to work in, and there is evidence that it is like the outbreak in twenty twenty two and twenty three.
There is an element.
Of sexual transmission, but it is transmitting and spreading well beyond that specific mode. So we've got the most number of cases in children, although it's spreading faster in sexual networks, and it's very difficult to get a grasp of because of the multiple modes. I asked the WHO when they made the announcement this week whether there was an airborne component, and they have no confirmed evidence that is the case,
but they haven't ruled it out. They are looking at all possibilities at this stage.
Well, and could that potentially be why we're seeing it spread across borders as rapidly as it is.
It seems that the most likely pathway is still close contact across borders.
Could well be We've had a lot of roads.
Built in Africa and truckers moving across borders are known to be one way that this has transmitted. We've also got a lot of remote mining sites and camps housing hundreds of thousands of conflict displaced Congolese where once those roads are built, you get a quicker movement to cities. And it's people that really move these kind of viruses along, and as we've seen with other pandemics, we're all interconnected.
It really probably takes a handful of people who've been working in these areas getting on a flight to other parts of the world and things can move very quickly from there.
Jenne, as someone who's covered the healthcare space for quite a while, what do you make of the reaction, because it felt like it was sort of a light switch and it went from really sort of teetering behind the headlines to now it is the top story. Really, do you think governments are now taking it seriously?
So?
Africa certainly has been left behind before, and the Africa Center for Disease Control and Prevention has acted this week as well as the who they'll be coordinating things on behalf of the various governments. The NGOs have been calling out about this poor months at least eight months ago, this particular strain was identified, but to be fair, since the WHO convened the panel last week, it's moved pretty quickly. Often a panel was sit for days and yesterday they
met for the first time and in European time. By the evening they had already made the declaration and Africa CDC declared a continent wide version public health emergency the day before the WHO decided on calling the Global virgin. It was the first time Africa CDC had declared an emergency since receiving this power from its member states last year, and the regional body has rarely made an effort to
get into the driving seat this time around. The Director General of Africa CDC went so far this week in saying that Africa didn't get appropriate support in twenty twenty two and twenty three and what the continent is facing today is really a consequence of having no assistance.
And you mentioned that glows health emergency that was declared on August fourteenth from the WHO. Give us some insight, Janets. What does this do?
So?
It prompts all the member states to report, It improves surveillance, it helps release funds so effectively marshaling resources. WHO this week in their briefings said that they are figuring out the detail still and we will get further details in the coming days.
Hopefully it will mean that countries in the West who.
Have stockpiles at least some of them do from the twenty twenty to twenty three art.
Breaks there that they will share their vaccines.
That all being said, it's not like the who can ready force their member states to do a whole lot at this point, but it certainly gets attention and it creates space for talks to be happening so that these resources are used in the best possible way.
Stick with US Janets when we come back, we want to talk about what the impact of this outbreak could actually be based on smoothysus meent that you were just giving us, and also whether there have been lessons learned from COVID or not so far off from that global health emergency. So we'll talk about that after the break. So welcome back today. We're discussing the m Park's outbreak in the DRC and also that hitting over countries across
the continent. We have JENSQ who's been following this story very closely. Jenne is, do we know yet what the economic impact of this potentially could be so far it couldn't have a similar effect as COVID did to economies across the continent.
One of the lessons I think both the agencies, the EFFICACYDC and the who learned from COVID was that as far as possible, it is preferable not to close borders, and so at this stage both of them have said that they do not see a need for that. There are certainly upping surveillance borders, but they do not want to cause the economic hardships that were caused by the reaction to COVID. The logistics are definitely tricky. The DRC, where most of the cases are at the moment, it's
a very big country. As I said, there are a lot of displaced people. They're some very remote areas. But there's also a lot of stigma related to empocs. In the twenty twenty two to twenty three outbreak that was global, most of the cases were in sexual networks, predominantly men who have sex with men, and in parts of Africa, this is not just frowned upon. There are some countries where it can actually attract the death penalty, and so.
They are trying to think.
On the ground, many of the NGOs are trying to work with people with communities to get rid of that stigma.
In addition to that, there is a need to help people.
Not to be suspicious of vaccinations and other measures that might be needed. So there is a lot of work to be done, and the WHO, Mike Rine made it very clear in a recent briefing that the tide only turned on the previous outbreak, specifically in the US and Europe, when the most affected communities were properly engaged, and there is a lot of work to be done on that.
When you talk about vaccinations and skepticism around vaccinations, how might that play into a potential vaccination program that we do see with this strain.
Yeah, so vaccination programs probably facing two main issues. The one is the logistics, which as said is tricky in many of these countries because they are large countries and don't have a lot of infrastructure. They also generally just very fragile health systems. Africa is arguably the consonants that is most effects about global warming, and so the spread
of other diseases like cholera and malaria have increased. We already know that sub Saharan Africa has the world's highest number of HIV cases, and that is comobidity, which has been highlighted as a big risk factor, both because people's immune systems are weaker if they have untreated HIV, but also because of the risk of somebody potentially harboring an impacts virus where there might not be notably ill the whole time, but the virus is sitting there latently and mutating,
and so those risks are real. And I do think that beyond the logistics as we refer to this community engagement, explaining to people that giving a child of vaccinations not because you are trying to put a tattoo on their arm effectively to say that they are going to be a victim of sexual violence, for example, but that this is just a smart way of ensuring that they are protected preemptively.
And it could potentially keep fatality rates from going up.
Right.
Could that potentially have an impact then on what we actually see in people just getting very sick and not dying from it.
Essentially, Yeah, I mean the vaccines are pretty effective. They stem from small pox vaccines, and all the pox viruses are in the same sort of family. And when we spoke to the Very Nordic that is the company that provides or makes the main vaccine that's been approved so far. I asked whether with mutations there were confidence that the vaccine would still be effective, and the answer is yes. Even one shot gives you about eighty percent protection, which
is decent. The WHO and Africa CDC have gone on to say that as important as vaccines are and as much as we need them on the ground in Africa, they aren't the only measure. Antivirals when you're already sick can help, and even there is evidence that something as simple as a decent disinfectant that you would use at home can kill this virus. Again, Mike grind from the WHO made this point that if we act quickly, we can contain this and.
So then jen As I know this is a fast moving story as this virus is also spreading quite fast, But what is it that you're paying attention to next, whether that's from the WHO the Africa CDC, I mean, what is it that we should be watching out for next?
When we start saying sustained human human transmission in countries where they've currently got just a handful of cases, that is something that we would need to pay attention to once it really settles into a community, it does make it harder to eradicate, and then of course any evidence that it is moving rapidly in other parts.
Of the world.
We really want to see the entire situation being handled differently to what we saw with COVID and the previous impox outbreak. I mean, quite frankly, I think we failed in both of those. In the response, I think there have been lessons that have been learned. There are pathways for vaccination programs that could be tapped into again that were set up during COVID, And to echo what's the Director General for Africa CDC said in his recent briefing is that we want to make sure first and foremost
at this point that every African is protected. Every person, whether you're in a city or a remote area, has access, and that is what we're aiming for. It would be very disheartening if we saw countries that already have stockpiles refusing to share, and countries that are less affluent not being able to get vaccines.
Because of affordability issues.
This is not something that I see as a fault of the manufacturing companies they've got to still be able to be viable, and they have a very not already given a donation, but they can't donate all of their Traditionally, the model with vaccinations is that the countries who can pay subsidize effectively those that can't. And in this case the numbers aren't big enough and the countries that need it most are less likely to be able to afford the full price, which the Africa CDC has currently pigged
at about one hundred dollars a dose. So we really do hope that we will see more sharing, we will see the community, international community really figuring out's a base away than what we've seen in other pandemics.
Especially when you factor in the economic situation for a lot of these countries. Janis Q, thank you so much for joining us and for your recording on this. Really appreciate it. And you can read all the latest coverage on the outbreak on Bloomberg News platforms now and with the memories of the damage that COVID had on the economies and Africans themselves still fresh in the minds of many, hopefully we'll see governments avoid this fast spreading virus having
similar effects across the continent. This program was produced by Adrian Bradley. Don't forget to follow and review the show wherever you usually get your podcast. I'm Jennifer's Abasaja. Thanks so much for listening.