Op-ed: Fighting an mpox outbreak, Sierra Leone ‘shouldn’t have to stand alone’
June 24, 2025
A dangerous mpox outbreak in Sierra Leone is escalating rapidly, with a highly transmissible variant spreading nationwide. Despite impressive local efforts in testing, contact tracing, and genomic surveillance, experts warn that international support is falling short. In a June 11 op-ed in Time, Harvard’s Pardis Sabeti and Christian Happi commend Sierra Leone’s preparedness but emphasize the urgent need for U.S. and global assistance. With disease cases doubling every two weeks and signs of international spread, the moment to act is now. Supporting Sierra Leone’s response is not just aid—it is strategic global health security.
Sierra Leone is facing a fast-growing and dangerous mpox outbreak that is testing the limits of its health system and the strength of the global public health response. Since November, a highly transmissible mpox variant has taken hold, with disease cases doubling every two weeks and likely more than 11,000 people already infected. While local authorities have moved swiftly—deploying real-time diagnostics, sequencing the virus, and launching targeted public health interventions—their efforts are being undermined by insufficient international support.
In a Time op-ed published June 11, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health experts Pardis Sabeti and Christian Happi, who are supporting Sierra Leone’s efforts through the Sentinel surveillance initiative, warn that without renewed global investment, progress will falter. Since U.S. funding was canceled earlier this year, Sierra Leone has relied on limited support from the World Health Organization, philanthropic partners, and industry. Yet that support, however valuable, is not enough to match the scale and speed of the outbreak.
Sabeti and Happi rightly argue that Sierra Leone is demonstrating what strong epidemic preparedness looks like—but it should not stand alone. With mpox cases already appearing in the United States and Europe, delay is not only unjust—it is dangerous. This is a pivotal opportunity to show that the lessons of past pandemics have been learned. By acting decisively—through funding, vaccine access, diagnostics, and field deployment—international stakeholders can help Sierra Leone contain this outbreak before it becomes a larger global threat.
The choice is clear: support the leaders already on the frontlines, or once again risk global inaction. This is not just Sierra Leone’s fight—it’s the world’s.