Monkeypox is an Orthopoxvirus that has been endemic to Central and West Africa for several decades. During 2022, monkeypox has spread to over 100 countries, many of which are seeing their first cases of the disease. As a result, on the 23rd of July 2022, the World Health Organization declared monkeypox a public health emergency of international concern, and made a series of recommendations for a global response. These include strengthening public health measures in affected settings and accelerating research into vaccines and therapeutics. However, preventive and treatment options are limited and other public health measures, such as contact tracing and risk communication, have proved challenging.
This virtual seminar examines ethical considerations arising when responding to monkeypox and will engage with the following questions:
1. Does this monkeybox outbreak differ from earlier outbreaks in endemic areas in ethically significant ways?
2. Now that monkeypox has been declared a public health emergency of international
concern, what steps should be taken to ensure countries where monkeypox has
been endemic for decades receive their fair share of diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines?
3. How can we ensure adequate global attention is given to infectious diseases that are
endemic to, or affect, predominantly low- and middle-income settings in advance of those diseases becoming global emergencies?

Chair:
Professor Michael Parker, Professor of Bioethics, Director of the Ethox Centre, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK

Speakers:
Dr Hayley Macgregor, Research Fellow, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex and STEPS Centre researcher, UK

Professor David Heymann, Department of Infectious Disease Epidemiology, Faculty of Epidemiology and Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK

Professor Ayodele Jegede, Department of Sociology, University of Ibadan, Nigeria