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In May 2022, the UK announced its first recorded case of monkey pox and almost immediately, another public health alert hit the airwaves. This panic was not unexpected. The world was just recovering from a global pandemic that had practically altered almost everything that existed and the last thing anybody would want, is having to deal with another global health emergency. Although monkeypox does not present same scenario as the coronavirus, experts say it is mutating faster than expected which is what has called for urgent concern. It is an uncommon disease caused by contamination with the monkeypox virus. It is part of the same family of viruses that causes smallpox, which is the variola virus, shares similar symptoms with smallpox but it is less severe and rarely fatal.
Monkeypox is nothing new, and the virus is endemic in several countries, but when cases started appearing beyond the expected places and among people who didn’t travel to those regions, researchers paid attention[1]. In May 2022, multiple cases of monkeypox were identified in several non-endemic countries. As of July 2022, there has been a total number of 14,511 confirmed cases of monkeypox reported across 70 different locations. 243 of these cases are in 6 countries that have historically reported monkeypox- DRC, Nigeria, Ghana, Cameroon, and the Republic of Congo. 14268 are cases reported in 64 other countries that have not historically reported monkeypox. Some of these countries include the United States, Brazil, Canada, France, UAE, Australia, United Kingdom, Hungary, and Singapore.
These findings may be related to the cessation of smallpox vaccination, which provided some cross-protection against monkeypox, leading to increased human-to-human transmission. Increased surveillance and detection of monkeypox cases are essential tools for understanding the continuously changing epidemiology of this resurging disease.[3] Also it has been identified that there are 2 strains of monkeypox. One is from the Congo basin, which seems to be more fatal and the other identified to be from West Africa, which is the less severe strain and the one that seems to be currently trending. There is now monkeypox in every continent in the world, it therefore poses the question of how worried the world should be and what should be done to prevent and restrain the disease from spreading. The good thing about monkeypox is that there is an enormous amount of knowledge about the disease, and there is an available vaccine for it.
Therefore, to further demystify monkeypox and to have a robust perspective on the responses that are in place to mitigate against it, Anadach group is planning a webinar on Thursday, September 8th 2022 at 9.00 am EST/ 1pm UTC to address key issues relating to the ongoing spread including, but not limited to:
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Understanding the global response to monkeypox, and its current limitations
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Current implementation and sustainability of policies and procedures
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Having a truly global response to tackling monkeypox
Please check out video recording here https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7FtJ5gnFXsoVkZLVn-FypJjh2cunk2EL
Special Guest
Dr. Kechi Achebe, MD, MPH, Global Health & HIV expert, Download the Presentation
Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, Director General, Nigerian Center for Disease Control & Prevention
Speakers
Prof. Dimie Ogoina, Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases & CMD of NDUTH, Bayelsa state, Nigeria, Download Presentation
Dr. Prachi Renade, MD Infectious disease Specialist, former section head for Infectious diseases, INOVA health systems, Northern Virginia USA, Download Presentation
Dr. Joseph H. Kofi Bonney, Senior Research Fellow, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research- Virology, Ghana, Download Presentation
Agenda:
1.00 pm - 1.05 pm Guests Sign in virtually. Introduction to event, and event guidelines.
1.05 pm - 1.10 pm Welcome & Introduction of Special Guests
-Dr. Egbe Osifo-Dawodu. Partner & Co-Founder, Anadach Consulting
1.10 pm - 1.18 pm Special Guest Address. Monkey Pox, the global situation and regional response activities.
- Dr. Kechi Achebe, MD, MPH, Director, Global Health and HIV Expert.
1.18 pm - 1. 26 pm Special Guest Address: Monkeypox in Nigeria, the current situation and the NCDC’s response plan and activities.
- Dr. Ifedayo Adetifa, Director General, Nigerian Center for Disease Control & Prevention.
1.26 pm - 1.36 pm Q & A
1.36 pm - 1.44 pm Monkeypox- Clinical presentation, available treatments, vaccinations and current situation in the Niger Delta region, Nigeria.
- Prof. Dimie Ogoina, Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases & CMD of NDUTH, Bayelsa state, Nigeria
1.44 pm – 1.52pm Available treatments, Vaccinations and current situation in the USA and other parts of the world.
- Dr. Prachi Renade, MD Infectious Disease Specialist, former Section Chief for Infectious Diseases, INOVA health systems Northern Virginia, USA.
1.52pm – 2.00pm Current situation, treatments and vaccination in Ghana.
- Dr. Joseph H. Kofi Bonney, Senior Research Fellow, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research- Virology, Ghana.
2.00 pm - 2.10 pm Q & A
2.10 pm - 2.15 pm Conclusion and Closing Remarks by Anadach
Dr Kechi Achebe
Special Guest
Dr. Kechi Achebe is an experienced public health physician, scientist, and researcher, with more than 20 years of technical, programmatic, and leadership experience in public health and clinical medicine. A recognized global expert in the area of global health--especially HIV, tuberculosis and related diseases, she has worked and led the design and delivery of public health programs globally
Dr. Achebe is the Director of the Office of Global Health and HIV (OGHH). In this role, she leads the development, policy direction, design and technical support of PC’s Global Health & HIV programs, to address malaria; maternal, newborn, and child health; HIV/AIDS; TB; reproductive health services, COVID-19 and other emerging global health threats; and community health systems strengthening, in the 64 countries where PC is present.. She also serves as PEPFAR Deputy Principal, representing Peace Corps to the Office of the U.S. Global AIDS Coordinator and Health Diplomacy at State Department (S/GAC).
From 2013 to 2020, Dr. Achebe served as the Senior Director for HIV/AIDS and TB programs, at Save the Children USA, as well as the organization’s management lead on its partnership with the Global Fund, in Geneva. Prior to that, she was the Director of the office of Health and HIV/AIDS at Africare, all based in Washington DC. Her extensive work experience covers Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America, The Caribbeans and the USA.
Dr Achebe also served as member and advisor to the UNITAID civil society board, and as the principal investigator on many CDC/NIH and PEPFAR funded projects. She has authored and has published white papers, technical support documents, and peer-reviewed publications. Her research focused primarily on developing strategies to reduce the global burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases, promoting health and addressing health disparities, especially amongst the vulnerable and marginalized population, and community health systems strengthening.
In addition to her oversight of multi-million-dollar research and development programs, Dr. Achebe has a strong record of working closely and successfully with various governments; multilateral/bilateral agencies, and host-country governments. She is passionate about community development and engagement; and is loved by the community members wherever she works.
Dr. Achebe holds a medical degree (MD) from the University of Benin in Nigeria, and a master's degree in public health (MPH) from Boston University. She obtained a fellowship in Infectious Disease Epidemiology from Boston University School of Medicine and Public Health and a certificate in management from Yale University’s School of Management, CT.
Prof Dimie Ogoina
Speaker
Prof Dimie Ogoina is an Infectious Disease Physician at the Niger Delta University Teaching Hospital (NDUTH), Okolobiri, Bayelsa State, Nigeria and a Professor of Medicine and Infectious Diseases at the Niger Delta University, Amassoma, Bayelsa State, Nigeria. He currently serves as the Chief Medical Director of the NDUTH and the President of the Nigerian Infectious Diseases Society.
Prof Ogoina and his team at NDUTH diagnosed and managed the first set of cases of Monkeypox in Nigeria during the 2017 outbreak in Nigeria.
His research interests include HIV/AIDS, healthcare-associated infections, infection prevention and control, antimicrobial resistance, and epidemic-prone infectious diseases, among others.
Dr Prachi Ranade
Speaker
Dr. Prachi Ranade is an infectious disease specialist with over a decade of experience in local and international medicine. She gained her medical degree from The George Washington University School of Medicine followed by internal medicine training in Chicago and infectious disease training in Baltimore. She started her professional career at INOVA hospital in northern Virginia where she worked as an Internal Medicine Hospitalist. Later she joined an infectious disease practice where she was a partner for 5 years and started the practice’s telemedicine program. During the COVID pandemic she was the section chief for infectious disease working in the COVID wards and writing policy for the INVOA health system.
In May of 2021 she joined the Peace Corps as the Director of Epidemiology. Dr. Ranade’s special interests include international tropical medicine, telemedicine and the teaching and training of medical students and residents. During her years at INVOA she was granted an award in excellence in teaching for her work educating George Washington University medical students. Dr. Ranade also frequently gives educational webinars and lectures to local community groups and other medical programs.
Dr Joseph Humphrey Kofi Bonney
Speaker
Dr Joseph Humphrey Kofi Bonney is a Senior Research Fellow at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, University of Ghana.
He has won numerous grants, honors, and awards to participate in and carry out research projects/investigations, or indeed to be given global acknowledgement and recognition for his work.
His current research focus on emerging and re-emerging infections – particularly viral zoonoses, including Viral Haemorrhagic Fevers such as Ebola, Lassa Fever, Crimean-Congo, Rift Valley, and Arboviruses. Work emphases on studies of their evolution, epidemiology, diagnostics, ecology, and host-virus interactions from molecular to population level.
Dr Bonney has supervised and co-supervised close 35 Undergraduate and Postgraduate Level Thesis and examined master’s and PhD-level thesis at the University of Ghana where he also lectures at Allied Health Sciences, the graduate entry medical program and the schools of Public Health and Nursing.
Amongst others, he is a member of the following societies and groups - Society for General, Microbiology (SGM) – UK; American Society for Microbiology (ASM); The Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene – UK; American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene; Member, ECOWAS Regional Rapid Response Team (ERRRT) on Pandemic and Emerging Infectious Diseases; Member, African Unit of European Mobile Laboratory Operations for Outbreak Response; Member, National Technical Coordinating Council (NTCC) on Pandemic and Emerging Infectious Diseases;
He has been invited to and attended over forty-five (45) prestigious national and international conferences and workshops where he often plays key roles, presented papers, posters and research findings, and published 52 peer-reviewed articles in refereed Journals.
He is married with 2 children.
Dr Ifedayo Adetifa
Special Guest
Ifedayo M. O Adetifa MBBS, FWACP (Paed), MSc PhD, is the 2nd Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC). He is a paediatrician and epidemiologist, with almost two decades of working experience in general paediatrics, paediatrics infectious diseases and infectious disease epidemiology. His work to date has covered the areas of paediatrics HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis epidemiology and the epidemiology of vaccine-preventable diseases. In the last seven years, he has focused on vaccine epidemiology research with an overarching aim of generating evidence for vaccine policy in Africa through vaccine impact studies and seroepidemiology. He has also been involved in the COVID-19 response through his activities as a member of the Kenya SARS-CoV-2 Serology Consortium. As part of his activities in the vaccine policy arena, he is a member of the World Health Organisation, Africa Region’s (WHO-AFRO) Regional Immunisation Technical Advisory Group, the WHO Respiratory Syncytial Virus Technical Advisory Group, and the Programme Advisory Group for the Malaria Vaccine Implementation Programme. Members of the Kenya SARS-CoV-2 Serology Consortium
Until his current appointment as the Director General of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, he was an Associate Professor of Infectious Disease Epidemiology at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM), United Kingdom, and Clinical Epidemiologist at the Kenya Medical Research Institute (KEMRI)- Wellcome Trust Research Programme (KWTRP) in Kilifi, Kenya from 2014 to date. And prior to this he was a Clinical Epidemiologist at the Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia.
Dr Ifedayo Adetifa received his undergraduate medical qualification from the University of Ilorin, Kwara State, Nigeria, studied for his Masters in Epidemiology at the London Shool of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and received his PhD also in Epidemiology from the University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. He completed clinical specialty training at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Idi-Araba, Lagos for which he was awarded the Fellowship of the West African College of Physicians in Paediatrics.