The World Health Organization (WHO), announced in a Press Conference on Tuesday, 14th June 2022 that it will be renaming the virus ‘monkeypox’ since the Scientists found it to be discriminatory and stigmatizing.
According to the Director-General of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus on Tuesday, WHO is in collaboration with experts from around the world to find a suitable name instead of monkeypox, its clades, and the diseases it causes.
“The current perception of the international media is that monkeypox virus (MPXV) is within some particular African countries. However, all earlier outbreaks of the virus in Africa and the current 2022 outbreak all result from the transmission from animals to humans”. A group of Scientists wrote that “classifying the monkeypox virus t be African is very inaccurate, discriminatory and stigmatizing towards Africans.
Tedros Adhanom states that a meeting will be held to decide on whether to declare monkeypox as a public health emergency worldwide. The first monkeypox outbreak in humans was detected in the Democracy Republic of Congo in 1970.
Monkeypox is an orthopox virus that is similar to smallpox but is very mild. The virus was detected in the Congo Basin and West Africa, with more than 1,600 people being infected.
Meanwhile, they are now considering a name that could best fit the disease to prevent the said stigmatization it may have individuals.
Reporter: BEATRICE NORBEY
