WHO renames monkeypox as “mpox” to avoid stigma

To avoid racist stereotypes and stigmatization, the World Health
Organization (WHO) recommended on Monday that the monkeypox virus
be renamed “mpox,” Trend reports citing Xinhua.

Both names — mpox and monkeypox — will be used simultaneously
for one year while the latter is phased out, the WHO said in a
press release. The change comes after a number of individuals and
countries have raised concerns in several meetings and asked the
WHO to propose a way forward to change the name.

The one-year transition period serves to mitigate experts’
concerns about confusion caused by a name change in the midst of a
global outbreak. It also gives time to complete the International
Classification of Diseases (ICD) update process and to update WHO
publications.

In July, the WHO officially declared the multi-country monkeypox
outbreak outside of the traditional endemic areas in Africa a
public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the
highest level of alert that the global health authority can
issue.

It is the WHO’s responsibility to assign names to new and
existing diseases through a consultative process, which includes
the WHO member states. The consultation on monkeypox has involved
representatives from government authorities of 45 different
countries, it said.

According to the WHO, as of Saturday, 110 member states had
reported 81,107 laboratory confirmed cases and 1,526 probable
cases, including 55 deaths. Most cases reported in the past four
weeks were from the Americas (92.3 percent) and Europe (5.8
percent). The number of weekly reported new cases globally
decreased by 46.1 percent in the week of Nov. 21-27.