(PresidentialInsider.com)- On Monday, the United Nations’ Aids agency (UNAIDS) condemned some monkeypox reportage as racist and homophobic, saying that reckless language jeopardized the global response to the outbreak.
According to UNAIDS, “a considerable number” of recent monkeypox cases have been detected among “gay, bisexual, and other males who have sex with men,” implying that some depictions of Africans and LGBTI persons “reinforce homophobic and racist prejudices and increase stigma.”
The UNAIDS deputy executive director, Matthew Kavanagh, suggested that such discourse be stopped immediately. He added that stigma and blame erode trust and the capacity to respond effectively during epidemics like this one.
Experience has shown that stigmatizing discourse may swiftly derail evidence-based responses by inciting fear, pushing individuals away from health care, obstructing attempts to detect instances, and supporting ineffectual, punitive actions.
While noting that the situation is “developing and the surveillance extending, it is predicted that additional monkeypox cases may be detected,” the organization also advised all media sources covering Monkeypox to follow updates given by the World Health Organization (W.H.O).
The World Health Organization (WHO) joined its voice to the rising chorus of warnings about the surge in infections on Saturday, predicting that more cases will surface after a handful were discovered in the United States and Europe.
The W.H.O. said that the situation is developing, and the World Health Organization anticipates that as monitoring in non-endemic countries grows, more cases of monkeypox will be found.
A close match of the monkeypox virus driving the present outbreak to exported cases from Nigeria to the United Kingdom, Israel, and Singapore in 2018 and 2019 was found in a genome sequence from a swab sample from a confirmed case in Portugal.
The virus was first discovered in monkeys in a Danish laboratory in 1958, thus the term monkeypox. In 1970, the first human case was found in a kid in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Close contact with lesions, bodily fluids, respiratory droplets, and infected surfaces such as bedding can spread the monkeypox virus from one person to another. The incubation phase typically lasts six to thirteen days, although it can last anywhere from five to twenty-one days.
