As WHO declares mpox outbreak, PH grapples with deficient health protocols
by Lian Gabrielle Inlong
The World Health Organization (WHO) has once again declared the mpox outbreak a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) on Aug. 14, following an upsurge of cases in multiple African countries. This marks the second declaration since 2022, as the virus shows potential to spread beyond the continent.
This global health concern sounds an alarm to countries all over the world, and much more to a third-world country like the Philippines where health policies remain anti-people and inefficient.
Mpox is caused by the monkeypox virus which can spread between people, from the environment via contaminated surfaces, and even through animals. Common symptoms of the infection include blister or sore-like rashes in the face, hands, feet, groin, genital, and/or anal regions that can last up to four weeks, fever, headache, muscle ache, back pain, and swollen lymph nodes.
Though symptoms may be intimidating, mpox is usually mild. However, it may be critical for children, pregnant women, and people with compromised immune systems or with comorbidities such as Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).
In July 2022, sexual contact was seen as the main mode of transmission for the mpox outbreak across multiple countries in Africa that had never encountered the virus before. This was the reason why the outbreak was tagged as a PHEIC. WHO has already clarified that the spread is through any close contact with an mpox infected person, not just sexual.
Two clades of the virus are currently known. Clade I is known to result in grave complications in places where it is endemic, such as Central Africa. In contrast, Clade II is the type that led to the global outbreak in 2022, but the infection is less drastic compared to Clade I.
Mpox gets better on its own with supportive care such as painkillers or fever medication. However, severe cases caused by critical lesions may open the patient to secondary bacterial infections and other complications.
Social distancing and avoiding close contact with others as well as isolating are advised by WHO in order to stop the spread of the virus. But such activities may be harder for third-world countries like the Philippines where overcrowding cannot be avoided.
Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO director-general, pointed for a coordinated international response to stop the outbreaks, stressing that working closely with communities and governments on reinforcing measures to address the outbreak is a need. But the response may not be the same from each country due to multiple factors affecting different counties.
The Department of Health (DOH) reported the first mpox case in the Philippines this year, five days after it was declared a PHEIC. This marks the 10th laboratory-confirmed case since 2022. The patient, a 33-year-old Filipino male with no travel history outside the country, has a mild Clade II variant. The department, however, clarified that this is not the newer variant spreading in Africa.
DOH started reminding the public of the WHO and local guidelines on preventing the spread, many Filipinos may struggle to follow these guidelines due to poverty, further exacerbating the inaccessibility of primary healthcare in the country.
Most Filipinos who work on the daily cannot avoid close contact when they need to utilize public transport to get to their jobs located in highly urbanized areas to feed their families in households that are housing more people than it can hold.
With the country’s poor economic position, most workers spend their salaries on food and housing only, having little to no budget for healthcare needs. Forcing people to self-isolate or practice social distancing is a hindrance to the jobs of many Filipinos in the country.
Though aiming to save lives and improve health, most health guidelines implemented to address PHEIC outbreaks are designed for first-world countries that are amenable to changes in their routines — countries with good economic standing, which the Philippines does not have.
