GENEVA:After receiving complaints that the disease's current name was racist and stigmatizing, the World Health Organization announced on Monday that it would begin using a new preferred term, "mpox," as a synonym for monkeypox and urged other organizations to do the same.
In a statement, the World Health Organization stated, "Both names will be used simultaneously for one year while'monkeypox' is phased out."
More than 200 suggestions were submitted when the WHO launched a public consultation process earlier this year to find a new name for the disease.The announcement was welcomed by the United States, one of the nations and organizations that supported the name change.
In a tweet, CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said that the term "mpox" will also be used by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Walensky went on to say, "We welcome and support the renaming to mpox to reduce stigma and barriers to care for those who are most affected."
"Reducing stigma associated with disease is one critical step in our work to end mpox," stated US Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The term "mpox" or "Mpox," which was proposed, among others, by the men's health organization RÉZO, was one of the most well-liked public suggestions.At the time, its director stated that the removal of monkey imagery encouraged people to take the health crisis seriously.
Some ideas were laughable, like "Poxy McPoxface," which was a reference to Boaty McBoatface, the British polar research vessel's name before it was changed to "Sir David Attenborough" after a public vote.
According to the WHO, global experts selected "mpox" after taking into consideration, among other things, the scientific appropriateness, the extent of current usage, and pronounceability
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Mpox, which was first identified in 1958 and was given the name of the first animal to exhibit symptoms, primarily spread throughout a group of countries in west and central Africa up until this year.
There have been outbreaks of the viral disease in approximately one hundred countries where it is not endemic.
Under the International Classification of Diseases, the World Health Organization (WHO) is tasked with giving existing diseases new names.
In general, it tries to avoid linking any virus or disease to a particular nation, region, animal, or ethnic group.
To stop the practice of linking new coronavirus variants to specific nations, it gave them the Greek letters last year.