Global Health Challenges and Cross-Border Cooperation

The global spread of Mpox in 2022 was considered an epidemic that tested the preparedness of the international health system, particularly in the European Union (EU) and African countries. The COVID-19 pandemic had already exposed significant vulnerabilities in health systems worldwide, particularly regarding supply chain resilience, vaccine distribution efficiency, and equity in healthcare access. Such concerns were not unfounded as both regions struggled to contain the international health emergency, overlooking inefficiencies in vaccine sharing, health system management, and distribution of resources. As such, the Mpox outbreak was not just a viral infection to be controlled, but presented an exemplification of the critical issues and opportunities posed by health systems between the EU and Africa, given the lessons we had learnt from the stresses COVID-19 placed on global health infrastructures. This paper seeks to focus on how the Mpox epidemic was managed, particularly on how barriers to collaboration were streamlined.

Early Stages: Information Exchange and Resource Sharing

Health-related organizations globally began to react to Mpox in its early months, albeit with different levels of urgency. Mpox was promptly declared a public health emergency by the World Health Organization on July 23, 2022, which urged member countries to multilaterally mobilize information and resources.

Probably one of the most efficient factors in the initial response consisted of the timely provision of information by European and African health networks. The African Union’s Centre for Disease Control (CDC) and the EU’s Centre for Disease Prevention and Control  (ECDC) together contributed to the investigation of the Mpox epidemic dynamics by providing regular detailed reports on the incidence, transmission, and control of Mpox in their respective regions, either through bilateral cooperation or as part of broader WHO-coordinated efforts. Due to this, public health officials were able to treat patients more optimally during an outbreak response, thereby minimizing the response burden in critical outbreak locations at the initial epidemic stage, as was seen in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, and Nigeria, where the Mpox virus was first reported in 2022.

Despite the swift data sharing throughout mid-2022 and into early 2023, the comprehensive deployment of crucial resources like vaccines and antiviral medicines lagged. Europe moved quickly to cover its most vulnerable populations through rapid vaccination, while it took other regions such as Africa a longer time to procure and distribute them. This aspect of disproportionate accessibility to vaccine reserves highlighted the inequity in lifesaving materials — arguably the most pertinent dilemma Africa has regarding global health cooperation.

Bottlenecks in Vaccine Access and Healthcare Systems
By late 2022 and early 2023, the next phase of the crisis exposed repeatedly the areas that remained unaddressed within the global health system. Vaccine rollout emerged as one of the most urgent needs during the Mpox outbreak, like during the Covid pandemic. In Europe, the reaction was immediate, and governments purchased and stockpiled vaccines. For African nations, however, the struggles were exemplified by late vaccine arrivals, lack of finances, and poor health care systems. 

The situation brought to the fore the need for a more balanced collaboration between Europe, Africa, and more generally the world. The claim that the EU produces around 76% of the global vaccine supply aligns with calls that emphasize the EU’s consequential role in pharmaceutical and vaccine production, especially during global health crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The European Commission has been a key player in ensuring the development, approval, and distribution of vaccines through initiatives like the European Medicines Agency (EMA), which helped expedite the production of vaccines during the pandemic.

African countries, for instance, could have played a stronger role in global disease efforts in terms of important epidemiological identification, but they were nonetheless often left out in the first phases of vaccine roll-outs. This not only put the health of millions at risk but also strained relations between African countries and the EU, underlining the call for a new approach to global pandemic control and prevision.

Furthermore, the epidemic revealed critical gaps in the healthcare network throughout the African continent. Despite appreciable advancements made in recent years, especially after the Ebola pandemic, most African countries still had a very limited health system able to react to the Mpox outbreak. Access to healthcare professionals, diagnostic equipment, and treatment was particularly limited in remote regions. 

Redefining Instruments of Partnership Between the EU and Africa- Moving Towards Social Justice

In light of the inefficiencies the Mpox crisis exposed, the EU-Africa health partnership requires adjustment. Some initiatives have been undertaken, including increased collaboration between the African Union’s CDC and European health agencies. However, important factors such as funding, collaboration, and sustainability remain lacking.

To tackle those obstructions, the new understanding of EU-Africa public health partnerships will require consideration of three core aspects, as follows: 

1.Equitable Resource Distribution: Addressing the inequity in vaccine procurement between those who can afford it swiftly on mass and those who cannot. That is, tackling where vaccines are raised for wealthier nations at the expense of low-income countries, something which must be avoided if the tackling of public health crises are to be effective. The EU and its partners must propose an alternative model for resource distribution where African countries do not miss out on major health interventions, especially those regarding global health crises. 

2.Enhancing Health Systems: The exchange of information worked well during the Mpox outbreak, however, the COVID-19 pandemic showed that there is a lot of improvement yet to be achieved, especially in the healthcare systems in rural and generally remote areas. In future collaboration, there should be a key focus on healthcare infrastructure development, improving the skills of the healthcare workforce, and enhancing the availability of diagnostic resources, as well as maintaining a focus on strengthening healthcare systems.

3.Continued Collaboration: The cooperation witnessed during the Mpox outbreak is not enough. Rather, the EU and African nations should establish a new public health order for the two regions that consists of mutualism, shared responsibility, respect among the parties, and committed financing. This will in turn ensure that both continents are readily equipped to address future pandemics.

Lessons for the Future

In multiple ways, the Mpox outbreak teaches relevant lessons and perspectives for enhancing public health EU-African collaboration. The key among them is the need to establish more flexible, fair, and robust global health systems. Particularly if the world continues becoming increasingly interlinked, addressing health emergencies in a multilateral cannot be shelved. On the contrary, serious improvement especially in fairness of resource allocation, building appropriate structures, and continuous international cooperation should be the norm.

The response to the Mpox outbreak by the EU and Africa highlights the fact that much has been achieved but a lot more remains to be done. Further epidemiological events will require deeper collaboration, quicker response in the deployment of resources as well a more synergetic infrastructure. However, such aspects cannot afford to wait for the next epidemiological crisis for them to be tackled. Addressing them now will mean that the EU and Africa are able to move toward a more equal partnership, with both regions bearing the capacity to address forthcoming health crises.

Indeed, the silence after the Mpox crisis should give ever more reason to not neglect EU-African cooperation. Achieving effective global health security is only possible where all countries do their share, publicly and adequately.