A leading African scientist says the rising 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. Dr. Dimie Ogoina, who chaired WHO’s mpox emergency committee, said on Tuesday that negligence had led to a new, more transmissible version of the virus emerging in countries with few resources to stop outbreaks. Ogoina said that mpox, also known as monkeypox, had been spreading mostly undetected for years in Nigeria and elsewhere before the disease prompted the 2022 outbreak in more than 70 countries.
