What implications do this outbreak and the response have on future outbreaks?

This outbreak has impacted how the World Health Organization's (WHO) acts in collaboration with countries’ outbreak responses. The WHO emergency committee declined to label the Monkeypox outbreak as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).This would obligate WHO member countries to follow all of the agency recommendations in combating the outbreak. However, the director-general of WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, dissented from that decision, which demonstrates the organisation's capability of acting as a politically engaged actor (Wenham, Turner). The WHO has a critical role in addressing public health emergencies, and the director-general's dissent shows the organisation's willingness to engage with political considerations and ensure that proper measures are taken to respond to public health crises. Increased politicisation of WHO would enable the breaking through of deadlocks in global health policy making, but may not be welcomed by all member states. The director-general’s decision highlights the importance of understanding the role of the EC and WHO in disease control and global health governance. This decision has some significant implications on the future of public health. Masood, Khan, and Marzo specify a “One-Human-Environmental-Animal Health” approach for future outbreaks in order to create more interdisciplinary solutions. 

Due to the 2022 outbreak, more money and time has been put into research. While vaccines had already been developed in 2019, they became more widely distributed and research is going into more vaccines and options for different groups of people (NIH, 2022). Research is also being done on the similarities between smallpox and mpox as the smallpox vaccine seems to protect against mpox (Wenham, 2022). Additionally, as this is the largest outbreak and mpox has spread off of the African continent without clear transmissions, people are becoming more conscious of transmission and biosecurity (Dawson, 2022). In a press release in June, 2022, the White House released precautionary measures for keeping facilities safe. These included clarifying proper ways to transport and dispose of medical waste to prevent spread (The White House, 2022). 

This recent outbreak has also had an impact on how Mpox is being handled socially. Mpox has recently changed names from monkeypox in order to combat stigma surrounding the disease (WHO recommends new name, 2022). The current education about mpox also focuses on reducing stigma surrounding the transmission and symptoms. The dissemination of information should include inclusive language, focus on how the disease can be transmitted, and highlight higher risk behavior without relation to specific populations (Treffeien L et al., 2023). Mpox can be transmitted to and from anyone regardless of personal identities (Reducing Stigma, 2022).