By Enyichukwu Enemanna
In an effort to mitigate the negative impact caused by the name “monkeypox”, World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said monkeypox is to be renamed “mpox” in English.
This follows an announcement in August by the WHO that it was looking for a “neutral, non-discriminatory, and non-stigmatizing” name for the disease.
The organization said that it wanted to avoid a term that could be used in a racist way, and also hoped to prevent attacks on monkeys, such as one that occurred in Brazil.
“Following a series of consultations with global experts, WHO will begin using a new preferred term ‘mpox’ as a synonym for monkeypox. Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while ‘monkeypox’ is phased out,” the UN health agency said in a statement.
“WHO will adopt the term mpox in its communications, and encourages others to follow these recommendations, to minimize any ongoing negative impact of the current name and from adoption of the new name,” the organization said.
The monkeypox virus was originally identified in monkeys in 1958, but can infect a number of other animals, and is more frequently found in rodents.
Although global infection numbers have been declining since August, the virus remains a problem in low-income regions.
WHO said that the name was given before the organization had published its “best practices in naming diseases” in 2015.
The disease was first found in humans in 1970 in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and it remains endemic to parts of western and central Africa.
In May, cases of the disease began to be identified around the world. Some 81,107 cases in 110 countries, including 55 deaths, have been reported to the WHO this year.
The name “mpox” was submitted by Samuel Miriello, Director of the REZO men’s health organization. He argued that a new name that doesn’t invoke “monkey imagery” could help people “understand more quickly that there’s an emergency that needs to be taken seriously.”
