WHO considers renaming monkeypox over fears of stigma and racism
- The current label does not fit the health agency’s guidelines that recommend avoiding geographic regions and animal names
- The proposal echoes a controversy that erupted when the WHO renamed Sars-CoV-2 after people around the world referred to it as the China or Wuhan virus
The World Health Organization is weighing an official name change for monkeypox, in light of concerns about stigma and racism surrounding the virus that has infected almost 1,300 people in more than two dozen countries.
More than 30 international scientists said last week that the monkeypox label is discriminatory and stigmatising, and there’s an “urgent” need to rename it. The current name does not fit with WHO guidelines that recommend avoiding geographic regions and animal names, a spokesperson said.
The proposal echoes a similar controversy that erupted when the WHO moved quickly to rename Sars-CoV-2 after people around the world referred to it as the China or Wuhan virus in the absence of an official designation. The actual animal source of monkeypox, which has been found in a wide variety of mammals, remains unknown.
“In the context of the current global outbreak, continued reference to, and nomenclature of this virus being African is not only inaccurate but is also discriminatory and stigmatising,” the scientists’ group said in a letter online.
The WHO is consulting experts in orthopoxviruses – the family to which monkeypox belongs – on more appropriate names, a spokesperson said.
Other disease names that run counter to the guidelines include swine flu, according to joint recommendations from the WHO, the World Organisation for Animal Health and the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
