After the stigmatization of the gay community – more affected than the rest of the population – it is that related to the name that is denounced. New York City asked the World Health Organization (WHO) on Tuesday to rename monkeypox – “monkeypox” in English.
Read also: Monkey pox: the gay community threatened by stigma
“We are increasingly concerned about the potentially devastating effects that messaging around the monkeypox virus may have on (some) already vulnerable communities,” writes New York City Health Commissioner Ashwin Vasan. , in a letter to WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. The latter had also mentioned this possible change in mid-June, which Ashwin Vasan recalls in his letter.
According to the Health Commissioner, 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 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”.
On this point: Monkeypox in three questions
Rekindle “traumatic feelings”
“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 healthcare services for this reason,” adds Ashwin Vasan.
Read also: Majority of recent cases of monkeypox transmitted during sex, study says
Anyone can catch monkeypox, but since its appearance in Europe and the United States, the virus spreads overwhelmingly among men who have sex with men. New York is the most affected city in the United States in terms of the number of cases, with 1,092 contaminations detected since the start of the epidemic.
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