Editorial 1: Regional troubles
Introduction
Recently, Thailand’s youngest Prime Minister, 37-year-old Paetongtarn Shinawatra, was elected by the Parliament on Friday after the constitutional court ousted Srettha Thavisin.
About Ms. Paetongtarn
- Political History: Ms. Paetongtarn is the youngest daughter of former Thai Prime Minister and tycoon Thaksin Shinawatra, and the fourth member of her family to hold the position.
- Military Coup: Mr. Thaksin was removed in a coup in 2006.
- Judicial dismissals: Ms. Paetongtarn’s uncle Somchai Wongsawat was dismissed by the constitutional court in 2008, and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra was also dismissed, again by the same court, in 2014.
- Conservative Polity: The latest change of Prime Minister mirrors several such sudden dismissals of the past that are attributed to Thailand’s conservative establishment.
About Mr. Srettha
- Ethical Violations and Bribing a judge: Mr. Srettha was among more than a dozen Prime Ministers appointed since 2001 and the court held Mr. Srettha guilty of ethical violations for appointing a Cabinet Minister who had been convicted for attempting to bribe a judge overseeing Mr. Thaksin’s corruption cases more than a decade ago.
- Victory due to disqualification: Mr. Srettha was himself only elected in 2023, when the reformist Move Forward Party, which won the most seats in the elections, was disqualified from forming a government and banned for suggesting changes to the strict laws governing criticism of the monarchy.
Road ahead for Ms. Paetongtarn
- Radical changes still far away: But the chances are weak to bring radical reforms due to prior efforts leading to disqualification by Mr. Srettha.
- Key goals: Her most important task would be to help nudge Thailand’s sluggish economy back into shape while averting the fate of her predecessors.
- Young and aspirational Given her age and lack of experience, she is expected to be guided mainly by her father, who is back after his exile in the UAE over corruption charges, post compromises.
Road ahead for India
- Instability in Indian ocean neighbourhood: The developments come at a time of instability in India’s Indian Ocean neighbourhood to the east — the ouster of Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has sent the country into a period of uncertainty, which the interim government must contend with.
- Myanmar Violence: The developments follow a spurt in violence between militant groups and Myanmar’s embattled junta that imperil India’s investments as well as peace along the border with India’s north-east.
- Sri-Lankan Presidential Election: presidential elections in September, Thailand’s crisis has cast another shadow over plans to hold the BIMSTEC summit in Bangkok on September 4.
Way forward
Many agreements to be adopted on digital payment mechanisms, connectivity, and maritime cooperation have already been negotiated, and it is to be hoped that the summit will now not need to be put off. While Ms. Paetongtarn’s election may suggest some stability in the short term, New Delhi must keep its shock absorbers on, to deal with other surprise crises and seemingly chronic instability in the neighbourhood. India should stay vigilant and keep its interest and strategies well balanced.
Editorial 2: Apathy continues
Introduction
The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared mpox to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) for the second time in two years following its outbreak in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and its spread to over a dozen countries in Africa.
What led to Who’s declaration of PHEIC?
- Rise in outbreaks: The multi-country outbreak in Europe, in 2022, had led to a declaration of a PHEIC.
- Africa’s CDC declaration: WHO’s announcement comes a day after the Africa CDC declared the outbreak to be a public health emergency of continental security (PHECS).
- Regional and Global risks: Marking the first time a regional and global health emergency has been declared for a disease outbreak.
- First declaration in Africa: Of a PHECS since 2017. it is also the first time that WHO has declared a PHEIC for a disease outbreak in Africa on the very first time the emergency committee met to decide on the matter.
- First Ebola Outbreak in 2014: Though WHO claimed in August 2014 that the Ebola outbreak in West Africa was declared a public health emergency in the very first meeting of the emergency committee, an Associated Press investigation revealed how WHO resisted calling it a public health emergency for a few months.
- Second Ebola outbreak in Africa in 2018-19: WHO declared it a public health emergency only when the emergency committee met for the fourth time.
- Spread of mpox: If the 2022 mpox outbreak in the U.K, that spread to over 100 countries, was caused by the milder clade 2b virus — primarily affecting men who have sex with men, with limited cases among children and adolescents.
- Lethal Clade 1b variant: The current outbreak is driven by a new and more lethal clade 1b, spread effectively through sexual and non-sexual contact.
- Cases so far: There have been 2,863 confirmed cases and 517 deaths this year, primarily in the DRC. The clade 1b emerged in the DRC in September 2023, with human-to-human transmission ongoing since then.
- Population impacted: In the DRC, around two-thirds of infections are in children under 15 years.
- Status of Vaccines: Vaccines are again in acute short supply. As against 10 million doses needed to control the outbreak, just about 0.21 million doses may be supplied immediately.
- Ignoring Africa: Even when vaccines were used to blunt transmission in Europe and the U.S. earlier, vaccines were not supplied to Africa despite mpox being endemic there for years.
Conclusion
Currently, only the DRC and Nigeria have granted emergency use authorisation for the vaccine. The regulatory hurdle can be sidestepped if the company expresses interest for WHO’s emergency use listing, which will allow international agencies to supply the vaccine to all African countries. Even then, Africa will have to wait till the end of 2025 for the 10 million doses. The global health agencies and nations need to be proactive and prompt to ensure that another pandemic is not in the making.
