This is a surprising request to say the least. Considered stigmatizing, monkeypox disease, “monkeypox” in English, could be renamed. In any case, this is the request of the city of New York formulated this Tuesday, July 26 to the World Health Organization. The name of the disease would risk according to the city of encourage patients to isolate themselves rather than seeking treatment.
“We are increasingly worried the potentially devastating and stigmatizing effects monkeypox messages may have on already vulnerable communities, “New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan wrote in a letter to WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
According to the Commissioner for Health, this “terminology” is also “rooted in a racist and painful history for communities of color”. In his letter he recalls the negative effects of false information during the emergence of the AIDS virus (HIV) or the racism suffered by Asian communities after the covid-19 pandemicthan the president of the United States Donald Trump he called it a “Chinese virus”.
“Continuing to use the term monkeypox to describe the current epidemic could revive these traumatic feelings of racism and stigmaespecially for blacks and other people of color, as well as for members of LGBTQIA + communities, and for this reason they may avoid using life-saving health services, ”adds Ashwin Vasan.
Recall that anyone can contract monkeypox, but since its emergence in Europe and the United States, the virus has spread overwhelmingly among men who have sex with men. New York is the most affected city on the other side of the Atlantic by number of cases, with 1,092 contamination detected since the beginning of the epidemic.
