Experts blame Africa's mpox outbreaks on neglect, world's inability to stop epidemics
Voice of America
People sit at the Don Bosco refugee camp as Red Cross officials create awareness around mpox in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Aug. 22, 2023. Red Cross officials create awareness around mpox in the Don Bosco refugee camp in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, Aug. 22, 2023.
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, leading African scientists said Tuesday.
FILE - Orphans and children separated from their parents in Kadugli gather to eat boiled leaves at an IDP Camp within the Sudan People's Liberation Movement-North (SPLM-N) controlled area in Boram County, Nuba Mountains, South Kordofan, June 22, 2024. FILE - A WFP worker stands next to a truck carrying aid from Port Sudan to Darfur and other famine-stricken parts of Sudan, Nov. 12, 2024. (WFP/Abubakar Garelnabei/Handout via Reuters)
FILE - Students attend a class on media literacy at the Hiidenkiven Koulu school on November 19, 2024 in Helsinki, Finland. In Finland -- a country consistently ranked Europe's most media literate -- the skills needed to spot online hoaxes are on the school curriculum, amidst a boom of mis- and disinformation campaigns.
FILE - Pope Francis opens the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican, Dec. 8, 2015. FILE - Pope Francis pushes open the Holy Door of St. Peter's Basilica, formally launching the Holy Year of Mercy, at the Vatican, Dec. 8, 2015. FILE - Pope Francis walks inside the Paliano detention center, south of Rome, April 13, 2017.