Mpox health emergency: Lessons from Covid-19 should be implemented before the next crisis

In his novel The Plague, Albert Camus writes, “There have been as many plagues as wars in history; yet always plagues and wars take people equally by surprise.” In the face of yet another global public health crisis, let us hope that we are not taken by surprise like with the Covid-19 pandemic.

Monkeypox, which was subsequently rechristened as Mpox after the stigma that came to be associated with the disease in 2022, has reared its head again. On August 14, the World Health Organization declared that the increase in cases was a global emergency requiring urgent action.

There have been no reported cases in India yet and the government claims that the risk is low for a large scale outbreak – a suspected case is being investigated since September 8 and the patient has been isolated. But it is high time that lessons are learnt from the Covid-19 pandemic to be better prepared for what seems to be the next public health crisis the world faces.

First and foremost, there should be adequate training in evidence-based medicine for medical staff, including physicians and nurses, and robust systems should be put in place in preparation for a large-scale outbreak. All such trainings should be in consultation with public health experts...

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