A rise in Mpox virus cases detected in West Africa from 2017 provided warning signs of the potential for outbreaks elsewhere. Yet it was not until the multi-country outbreak in 2022 that the disease received significant global attention and a public health emergency of international concern was declared.
At a time of renewed discussion of epidemic preparedness and the governance of pandemics in the light of Covid-19, the Mpox outbreak provides further opportunity for reflection on the politics of priority setting, on resource allocation and on responding to the particularities of outbreak scenarios in different contexts.
This webinar on 27 April 2023 will draw on new evidence from a six-month research collaboration on Mpox in Nigeria (University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and the Institute of Development Studies, UK), as well as wider research on national, regional and global perspectives on epidemic preparedness and response. The research team will present findings for comment from invited discussants. A panel of experts will then consider questions such as:
- How can global preparedness and response efforts adapt better to regional diversity in the experience of outbreaks and related vulnerabilities?
- How can global efforts interconnect more effectively with national and regional preparedness and take account of varying priorities and perspectives?
- What can be done to strengthen community-level efforts for outbreak detection and care provision and how might approaches be adapted to different contexts, with different health systems and legal environments?
- What are the implications of lessons from Covid-19, both for Mpox responses as well as for future preparedness?
Speakers
- Dr Chinwe Lucia Ochu, Director, Planning, Research & Statistics, Nigeria Centre for Disease Control and Prevention
- Prof Rosemary Audu, Director of Research, Nigerian Institute of Medical Research
- Dr Caesar Alimsinya Atuire, Department of Philosophy and Classics, University of Ghana
- Dr Jeremy Williams, Department of Science, Technology, Engineering and Public Policy, University College London, UK
- Prof Melissa Leach, Institute of Development Studies, UK
- Prof Ayodele Jegede, Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria (Co-Chair)
- Prof Hayley MacGregor, Institute of Development Studies, UK (Co-Chair)
- Other panellists TBC
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