AHF Urges Vaccine Equity as Mpox Cases Surge in Sierra Leone
June 30, 2025
As Sierra Leone faces a severe mpox outbreak, accounting for 41% of Africa’s cases, AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is urging urgent global action. With just 40,000 vaccinated and over 4,300 confirmed cases, the response is overwhelmed. AHF calls on wealthy nations to donate vaccines and demands that Bavarian Nordic lower the cost of its Jynneos vaccine and share production technology with African manufacturers. With 6.4 million doses needed continent-wide, equity must drive the response. Mpox is not just Sierra Leone’s fight—it is a global health emergency that demands affordable tools and collective commitment to end preventable suffering.
The accelerating mpox crisis in Sierra Leone has become emblematic of a broader failure in equitable global health response. With 4,350 confirmed cases and 28 deaths since January, the nation accounts for 41% of Africa’s current mpox caseload. Yet vaccination efforts remain staggeringly insufficient: only 40,000 people—primarily healthcare workers and high-risk groups—have been reached. Amid limited contact tracing and inadequate isolation capacity, the outbreak is outpacing containment.
AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) is sounding the alarm, urging urgent action to close the gap between need and access. AHF calls on wealthy countries to release vaccine stockpiles immediately and to support frontline responders who are doing more with less. Central to their plea is a demand for Bavarian Nordic to reduce the price of its Jynneos mpox vaccine and to transfer production knowledge to qualified African manufacturers. Without affordable, regionally produced vaccines, the fight against mpox will remain compromised by scarcity and delay.
More than 6.4 million doses are needed across the African continent, yet access remains throttled by cost and monopolized manufacturing. Meanwhile, mpox continues to spread far beyond Sierra Leone—impacting Uganda, Burundi, Malawi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the epicenter of the epidemic. The World Health Organization maintains mpox as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, underscoring the urgency.
This outbreak has once again laid bare the inequities in global health. Africa cannot be expected to battle mpox in isolation while critical vaccines remain warehoused in the Global North. Global collaboration—through dose donations, price reductions, and regional production—is not just a moral imperative; it is the only path to global biosecurity. Sierra Leone’s courageous response deserves more than admiration—it demands tangible, timely support from the international community.