The World Health Organization (WHO) will hold an emergency meeting at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on Thursday to adopt a new name for monkeypox and determine whether its spread is an international emergency.
According to WHO Director-General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, this year, more than 1600 confirmed cases of monkeypox and approximately 1500 suspected cases of monkeypox were reported from seven countries where monkeypox had been detected for many years, and 32 newly affected countries.
Prior to this epidemic, monkeypox occurred only in parts of Central and West Africa.
The virus is not considered extremely dangerous, but pregnant women and children may be at risk.
British officials have told those with monkeypox that they should abstain from sexual intercourse in hopes of curbing the spread of the disease. https://t.co/x9WkcWK7C3
– Breitbart News (@BreitbartNews) June 1, 2022
Tedros told the United Nations that “the global monkeypox epidemic is clearly unusual and alarming”.
He believes international coordination is necessary to prevent the spread of the virus.
He promised to push for an immediate name change to address concerns about the stigma and racism associated with the word, according to Breitbart News.
In Canada, the Toronto Department of Public Health will set up monkeypox vaccination clinics in various parts of the city, including several public baths. (Steve Russell/Toronto Star via Getty Images)
Ibrahima Sose Fall, WHO Deputy Director of Emergency Response, told the UN that the virus is spreading faster in Europe, while in other countries the risk is considered moderate.
Regarding the name change, a group of scientists said in a recent statement on virological.com that it’s time to take steps to end the stigma of people from Africa. They said:
In the context of the current global pandemic, the persistent affiliations and naming of this virus as African is not only incorrect, but discriminatory and stigmatizing. The most obvious manifestation of this is the use of photographs of African patients to illustrate smallpox epidemics in mainstream media in the global north.
The African Foreign Press Association recently released a statement urging the global media to stop using images of Africans to cover the epidemic in Europe.
OUR DISCLOSURE:
The African Foreign Press Association expresses its dissatisfaction with the media’s use of black and black images. #monkey flower Outbreaks in North America and England. pic.twitter.com/u32yWLELJg
– FOREIGN PRESS ASSOCIATION, AFRICA (@FPA_Afrika) 21 May 2022
Oyewale Tomori, a virologist at Redeemer University in Nigeria, said he supports the renaming of monkeypox branches, as do his other colleagues in Africa.
“But even the name ‘monkey flower’ is a mistake. It’s a misnomer,” he said.
“If I am a monkey, I will protest because I am not really a monkey.”
Monkeypox, as defined on the WHO website, is “zoonosis: a disease transmitted from animals to humans.”
Source: Breitbart
