The World Health OrganizationOfficially, WHO will use the term “mpox” to replace “monkeypox” because the Biden Administration forced the international organization into changing its name due to the racial connotations.
On the international organization’s website, it says both names will be used simultaneously for a year until ““Monkeypox” has been phased out.
This illustration, taken May 23, 2022, shows test tubes labeled “Monkeypox virus negative and positive”.
(REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration)
The organization released a press release saying that “when the monkeypox outbreak grew earlier in the year, racist or stigmatizing language was observed online, in other settings, and in some communities. “In several meetings, both public and private, many individuals and countries raised concerns. They asked WHO for a proposal to change the name.
WHO DECLARES THAT MONKEYPOX IS STILL A GLOBAL EMERGENCY IN HEALTH?
The WHO is charged with naming new and existing diseases. After consulting with experts, governments, and the general public, the WHO recommended that mpox, which is the new English term for the disease, be adopted. It will then become the preferred term after one-year, while “monkeypox”, will still be searchable for historical information.
The WHO announced that the WHO was going to change the monkeypox’s name to “mpox” last week after senior Biden officials asked the WHO to do so. The administration even reportedly threatened to adopt new terminology without the WHO’s approval.
According to the report, Biden believed that the monkeypox name carries an unneeded stigma for people of colour.
TUSTIN, CA, August 16: Families Together of Orange County hosted a monkeypox vaccination clinic in Tustin on Tuesday, August 16, 2022. Two doses of the Jynneos vaccine are administered 28 days apart.Â
(Photo by Paul Bersebach/MediaNews Group/Orange County Register via Getty Images
After the WHO’s announcement of the name change on Monday, the Biden Harris Administration announced its support for the change.
WHO TO RENAME ‘MONKEYPOX’ TO ‘MPOX’ AT BIDEN ADMIN’S REQUEST
“We welcome the change by the World Health Organization,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra said in a statement. We must do everything we can to remove barriers to public health. Reducing stigmatization associated with diseases is one crucial step in our efforts to eliminate mpox.
The administration stated the following in a separate release: Human monkeypoxThe first time the name was given to a disease was in 1970. However, this was before 2015 when the WHO published its best practices for naming diseases.
It is important to avoid inflicting offense on any cultural, socio-cultural, professional or ethnic group when naming new diseases.
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The WHO has declared the monkeypox epidemic a worldwide emergency.
29200 cases of monkeypox have been reported within the borders of the United States.
