Rakiya A.Muhammad
Experts have underscored the need for the African region to take the driver’s seat in combating global health inequity.
Professor Oyewale Tomori and Dr Adepoju Victor Abiola made the call while speaking at a webinar by ICFJ Pamela Howard Forum on Global Crisis Reporting.
They discussed the future of global health, looking at developments in the fights against HIV/AIDS, Monkeypox and COVID-19, highlighting issues of money pox vaccines and the 2022 HIV/AIDS conference in Canada, which many would-be attendees from Africa could not attend because of VISA problems.
WHO recently declared Monkeypox a Public Health Emergency of International Concern to ensure rapid action toward curbing the spread of the disease.
However, some countries, such as the United States and European countries, have already started offering the vaccine for monkeypox, while many, especially low- and middle-income nations, do not have the vaccines.
“People are asking, is what happened with COVID-19, going to happen with monkeypox? I said it is already happening,” Professor Tomori notes.
“You see what happened in Canada, you remember what happened with COVID-19, and you see what is happening with money pox now; nothing has changed.”
The virologist adds,” I think little is going to change over this issue. Europe will take care of itself; America will take care of itself, and nobody will think of Africa. Africa is not caring for itself, and that is where the problem is.”
He observes, “unless those of us in the African region realise that the solution is not dependent on the globe, it is for us to do our things ourselves, until we appreciate that, the situation will continue to be what it is.”
PROFESSOR TOMORI NOTES PRETENCE OVER EQUITY
“Equity is not something you get on a platter; equity is not something you get by begging; equity itself, by its foundation, is self-interest. Until we appreciate this in the African region, we will continue to beg for equity, “he asserts.
“You go after equity; you put something on the table, contribute to equity, not consume equity.”
The educational administrator referred to India and how they have risen above inequity.
“See the difference between India of 1947 and India of today? We are talking about different things. They went outside and put themselves in a position where they can talk about equity,” he points out.
“In 1947, they were begging everybody for whatever they needed, but today, they are virtually producing the vaccines that the world is using.”
Similarly, Dr Adepoju Victor Abiola notes: “We see the whole issue around inequity playing within the context of response to COVID-19, now we are seeing it in the contest of monkeypox, that tells us it is not a mistake, it is not by accident, it is deliberate.”
He emphasises, “African countries need to put themselves in the driver’s seat, not just as recipients, things like locally manufacturing our drugs, vaccines which are also going to come at a lower price for our people.”
“We will have a voice and be able to say this is what we want, support our local manufacturing.”
He stresses the need for the global south and the north, low/middle countries and the west, to see themselves as partners rather than as impostors.
“I believe we live in a global space where harm to somebody is harm to everyone. Diseases don’t respect the border, and these problems can be easily transmitted,” he points out.
“Whatever benefit with a pandemic response, Africa should also be prioritised. We are talking about monkeypox now, but even with a lot in HIV coming out, people are advocating Africa should be prioritised.”
Adepoju argues that equity is also about vulnerable people. “I believe people should pay for their health care. I also believe somebody has to pay. It is the donor or the government. The government should pay if the donor is unwilling to pay, but we should allow nobody to die just because they do not have money.”
He says, “If you look at it from that perspective, I feel African governments need to wake up. We must look inward; the governments should be able to rise to the occasion.”
The infectious diseases expert notes that although there were few cases of Monkeypox in West and Central Africa from the previous week’s data, mortality was also coming up in the region.
“It tells us African countries need to think about vaccination, promotion and research.”
“We do not know the exact reservoir; there is nothing bad for African countries collaborating, coming together to look at these things and be able to bring out evidence that the west might also adopt.”
He reiterates even if they do not have enough money to produce the vaccine, they could look at the research.
“We have the human resources; African leaders should pull resources together, generate evidence, research gaps in some of these diseases and bring something for other people to learn from for policy and some of the research in the future,” says Dr Abiola.
He adds that the few cases in West and Central Africa may be because their surveillance system is not strong enough.
Abiola stresses people affected should not suffer just because of a lack of support from donors.
“Africa leaders should wake up to the occasion and be able to fill this gap so that vulnerable people can benefit from some of these interventions.”
He identifies the imperative of enhancing pandemic response at all times and diagnosing some of these emerging diseases.
He urges journalists to emphasise public health awareness. “Public health awareness is very important. A lot of misinformation happened with COVID-19. This is the time to talk about providing the right information to the people about monkeypox and other emerging diseases.”
“Things around microbial evolution, nobody established why we have more and more of these coming. It is really of concern, and we need to examine those issues,” he pinpoints.
“Also, the interrelationship of these issues with climate change; people talk about deforestation. We should tie these issues together to make sense of them in our research.”
DISEASE SURVEILLANCE, LABORATORY FACILITIES
Professor Tomori calls for a boost in disease surveillance and the redress of inadequate laboratories, equipment, and staff.
He notes, for instance, that DR Congo reported thousands of suspected cases of monkeypox and could only confirm 10 per cent. “Why can’t DRC have the laboratory facilities to prove all the thousands of suspected cases they are getting?”
The professor of Virology also speaks about sustainability while referring to the laboratories built during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria.
“If 50 per cent of your laboratories are no longer functioning a year after, something is wrong somewhere. We need to learn lessons from that. Also, we should build what we can sustain; provide the right equipment, the right staff,” he maintains.
“If you plan your laboratory well to ensure access to everybody instead of getting 140 and you have 70 that you can consistently sustain, you are better off than all these buildings. The polio eradication in the African region was done with 15 laboratories.”
Professor Tomori calls on the governments to tackle the misuse of resources, saying, “we can’t continue to depend on everybody when we have the resources.”
