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New York City on Tuesday asked the World Health Organization (WHO) to rename monkeypox, a name deemed stigmatizing and which risks pushing patients to isolate themselves rather than to seek treatment.
New York City Health Commissioner, Ashwin Vasan, in a letter to WHO Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said : “We are increasingly concerned about the potentially devastating and stigmatizing effects that messaging around the ‘monkey pox’ virus can have on (an) already vulnerable community.”
Dr Tedros had also mentioned this possible change in mid-June, which Ashwin Vasan recalls in his letter.
Racism and stigma
In his letter, Mr Vasan recalls the negative effects of false information during the appearance of the AIDS virus (HIV) or of the racism suffered by Asian communities after the Covid-19 pandemic, which US President Donald Trump had described as “Chinese virus”.
“Continuing to use the term ‘monkey pox’ to describe the current outbreak may rekindle these traumatic feelings of racism and stigma, especially for black people and other people of color, as well as members LGBTQIA+ communities, and they may avoid using vital health care services for this reason,” adds Ashwin Vasan.
