Monkeypox: A challenge for and to geographers

Abstract

On 23 July, the World Health Organisation (WHO) declared the 2022 Monkeypox outbreak a 'Public Health Emergency of International Concern', following the rapid spread of infections in non-endemic countries (WHO, 2022a). The Monkeypox virus was first identified in 1970 and outbreaks are usually confined to West and Central Africa, although small numbers of cases traced to travel from these countries have been periodically reported elsewhere. Since May 2022, more than 71,000 confirmed cases have been reported in at least 107 countries globally, but principally in Europe and the USA (CDC, 2022; WHO, 2022b). Of the 71,096 confirmed cases globally, by 11 October 2022, only 719 cases were confirmed in the seven Central and West African countries where Monkeypox was endemic prior to 2022 (CDC, 2022).Unlike its usual epidemiology in Africa, most cases reported since May have been among gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (GBMSM; WHO, 2022b). Here, I provide an overview of the current Monkeypox outbreak and the public health response to it, drawing out their geographical aspects. I argue geographers can contribute more nuanced understandings of the spatialities of GBMSM's changing socio-sexual networks capable of informing targeted and more equitable public health interventions. My empirical focus is on the response to Monkeypox in the United Kingdom (and, specifically, England), which is the fifth most affected country during the current outbreak (WHO, 2022b), but I do

Spatiotemporal multiscale diagnosis model to proactively respond to the multi‐country monkeypox virus outbreak in 2022

“…Even more, spatial vision is important, even when studying and tracking the origin of each case (Mauldin et al., 2022). To this end, Brown (2022) states that geography has a clear challenge, framed by the public health emergency of MPXV 2022, to contribute across sub‐disciplinary boundaries to explain the spread of MPXV. In fact, GIScience research and multiscale spatial methods can use health geography to complement the expert approaches of priority disciplines such as epidemiology, ecology, or biology, among others (Rosenkrantz et al., 2020).…”

Geographies of gender and sexuality II: Charting scholarship on health

“…More recently, and in the very different context of Monkeypox in the UK, Gavin Brown (2023) has also called for the need for greater spatial modelling and quantitative data to help explicate where those at risk live, where they travel so as to interact with each other, and where they access health services to better target services at those most in need. For Brown, geographers have a key role to play here, to better understand and help support health initiatives by charting and modelling the spatial and cultural dynamics and socio-sexual networks of gay and bisexual men.…”