Jennifer Rigby

While global health officials toiled toward a pandemic treaty to ensure a fair distribution of vaccines and medicines, the worst mpox outbreak on record was unfolding, unimpeded, in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Vaccines and treatments had helped tackle cases in the United States and Europe during a global outbreak in 2022, and huge stockpiles remained. Yet none of those tools were making their way to DRC, despite thousands of suspected cases and hundreds of deaths. Reuters’ Global Health Correspondent Jennifer Rigby set out to determine the contributors to a stark example of inequity.

In a series of stories beginning in December 2023, Rigby documented the inaction on the part of local officials in Congo already struggling to cope with violent conflict and competing diseases such as measles tearing through camps for displaced persons. The government had neither approved mpox medicines nor sought to purchase doses or receive donations, she found: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/stigma-regulatory-barriers-delay-mpox-response-country-that-needs-it-most-2023-12-05/

Rigby then identified the regulatory hurdles within the World Health Organization that had delayed by years the distribution of mpox vaccines to poor countries. Global health officials and scientists said their slow arrival highlighted a failure to heed the lessons of the COVID-19 pandemic. Months of dogged reporting and repeated questioning of WHO representatives led to this deeply-reported piece on the lack of urgency: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/why-mpox-vaccines-are-only-just-arriving-africa-after-two-years-2024-08-24/

Rigby was first to report that the WHO had eased its own requirements to deal with the emergency: https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/who-says-partners-can-start-talks-buy-mpox-vaccines-before-their-approval-2024-08-23/

These are just a few examples of Rigby’s work on an outbreak that was largely ignored until this year. In other stories, she collaborated with colleagues in Congo to show how the current outbreak was driven by a new mpox variant and its particular risks for children; she was first to report when Congo authorities approved vaccines; she revealed the challenges scientists faced in tracking the new variant; and she tallied the millions of available doses of mpox vaccines held by wealthy nations, only a fraction of which were being pledged for donation. Along the way, she reported on the key developments and announcements, and explained to readers the science behind the illness and its prevention. Rigby’s painstaking and insightful reporting resonated with Reuters’ global audience. Her coverage drew hundreds of thousands of pageviews online. Global health officials said it helped speed up the response within WHO and among donor nations to help curb the epidemic. Thank you for considering her work for the Press Awards category of Health Journalist of the Year.