This Tuesday, July 27, 2022, the city of New York asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to officially change the name of the monkeypox (“monkeypox” in English) since it is considered stigmatizing.
What is the problem ? According to New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan, this “terminology” East “rooted in a racist and painful history for communities of color” he writes in mail addressed to the Director General of the WHO, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
Monkey pox: a name considered stigmatizing
“Continuing to use the term “monkey pox” to describe the current outbreak can rekindle those traumatic feelings of racism and stigma — especially for black people and other people of color, as well as members of LGBTQIA+ communities, and they may avoid using vital healthcare services for this reason“he adds.
Ashwin Vasan notably draws a parallel with the anti-Asian racism which had developed at the start of the Covid-19 epidemic, when the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus was still qualified as a “Chinese virus”.
As a reminder, monkeypox already has several names that are mainly used by the scientific community: we can thus speak of “simian pox”, “monkeypox infection” or even “simian orthopoxvirus”. In mid-June 2022, the WHO had already considered a name change for this pathology now considered a public health emergency of international concern (USPPI).
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