WHO Plans To Rename ‘Monkeypox’ Disease For Fear That It Is Misleading Or Contains Racist Overtones

By Lara Kramer  •  17 Aug 2022 in News

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The World Health Organisation has announced an open discussion to rebrand the illness monkeypox, after certain critics highlighted concerns that the moniker might sound derisive or racist.

According to Reuters, suggestions along the lines of Poxy McPoxface, Mpox and TRUMP-22 (a vengeful attempt at mocking Trump who called Covid-19 a “Chinese virus”),  have been provided to the organisation so far- the work of academics, doctors, and activists. While the WHO still encourages all sorts of ideas, homophobic titles were promptly removed from the website.

We’re calling on @WHO to act immediately to rename the “monkeypox” virus. We have a growing concern for the potentially stigmatizing effects that the messaging around the “monkeypox” virus can have on vulnerable communities. Read our letter: https://t.co/hC6L8o60TH pic.twitter.com/G8CQ9ueaMJ

— Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, MD, PhD (@NYCHealthCommr) July 26, 2022

“It’s critical that we establish a better name for monkeypox since it is best practise not to displease an ethical community, a province, a nation, wildlife, or anything else.

“The WHO is very passionate about the issue, and we wish to find a non-stigmatising title,” explained WHO spokesperson Fadela Chaib.

The United Nations Health Organisation declared in a statement Friday that it has also rechristened two families, or clades, of the viral infection utilising Roman numerals rather than geographical regions to avert connotation. The Congo Basin variant of the ailment will be recognised as Clade one or I, and the West Africa clade will be regarded as Clade two or II.

According to NBC, the WHO stated that the choice was taken after a conference of researchers this past week and in accordance with current best practises for disease labelling, that strive to “resist causing offence to any ethnic, sociocultural, national, provincial, professional, or racial communities, as well as minimise any significant influence on trade, travel, hospitality, or wildlife conservation.”

The World Health Organisation deemed the recent outbreak a public health crisis last month, upon receiving reports of over 32,000 cases from more than 80 countries worldwide, which led to people worldwide to panic and jump to the inaccurate conclusion that the illness was transmitted via monkeys.

The name also motivated racial discrimination, as ‘monkey’ is a common derogatory term, or slur, for African persons.

Monkeypox was initially named after the first living creature to experience symptoms when the illness was identified back in 1958.

Many other illnesses, including Japanese encephalitis, Marburg virus, Spanish influenza, and Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome, have been termed after the geographic locations from when they first emerged or had been discovered. WHO has made no public suggestions to change any of the names thus far.

Within Malaysia, to date, the national remains free from monkeypox, as tests for the virus on nine suspected cases came out negative.