November 28, 2022
1 min read

Monkeypox renamed as ‘mpox’, here is why

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….reports Asian Lite News

To avoid racist stereotypes and stigmatisation, the WHO has recommended that the monkeypox virus be renamed “mpox”.

Both names — mpox and monkeypox — will be used simultaneously for one year while the latter is phased out, the WHO said in a statement on Monday. 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 middle of a global outbreak. It also gives time to complete the International Classification of Diseases update process and to update WHO publications, Xinhua news agency reported.

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, the highest level of alert that the global health authority can issue.

India stopping WHO to release global Covid deaths to public

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 per cent) and Europe (5.8 per cent). The number of weekly reported new cases globally decreased by 46.1 per cent in the week of November 21-27.

ALSO READ: Globally, one in eight is migrant: WHO

Previous Story

India all set to assume UNSC chair

Next Story

Erdogan calls for stronger trade ties among Islamic countries

Latest from -Top News

Yorkshire declared drought-hit

Water Minister Emma Hardy expressed her commitment to addressing the issue, stating that she is receiving regular updates from the EA Yorkshire has officially entered drought status, becoming the second region in

Pentagon Labels China Top Threat

Hegseth told a House defence panel that Beijing is preparing for war in the Indo-Pacific to assert regional and global dominance. US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth stated on Tuesday that China

NTSB to probe Air India crash

The National Transportation Safety Board stated that as per protocols, all information on the investigation will be provided by India National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), an independent US government agency tasked with
Go toTop

Don't Miss

India commits $85m to WHO’s traditional medicine centre

The WHO-India donor agreement is part of a US$ 250

Attenborough, WHO among nominees for Nobel Peace Prize

Environmentalists have won the Nobel Peace Prize in the past,