The Foreign Press Association, Africa has registered its displeasure against media outlets using images of black people alongside stories of the monkeypox outbreak in North America and the United Kingdom.

At the height of COVID-19 pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) had to advise against naming pathogens for places to “minimize unnecessary negative effects on nations, economies and people.”

Even though by February 11, 2020, the WHO had named the then fast-spreading virus as SARS-CoV-2 and the illness it caused as COVID-19, some politicians, including former US president Donald Trump and conservative journalists, persisted in calling the COVID-19 virus as the “Chinese virus”.

Others even went on to call the variant as “Wuhan virus” after the Chinese city that first reported the infection. virus).

Fearing the repeat of the same in the case of the Monkey Pox, the Foreign Press Association of Africa (FPAA) has criticised media organisations for using images of black people in stories about the outbreak of monkeypox in Europe and North America.

Kenya-based FPAA group asked Western media to refrain from using stock images bearing persons of black, dark and African skin complexion to depict monkeypox outbreak.

The FPAA registered its displeasure against media outlets using images of black people alongside stories of the monkeypox outbreak in North America and the United Kingdom.

The Association asked whether the media are in the business of preserving white purity through black criminality or culpability and said it finds these actions to be very insensitive.

“Shouldn’t it be logical that if you are talking about the outbreak of Monkeypox in Europe or the Americas you should use images of hospitals across Europe or the Americas? Or in the absence of such use a collection of electronic micrographs with labelled subcellular structures?” a statement issued by the FPAA said.

“We condemn the perpetuation of this negative stereotype that assigns calamity to the African race and privilege or immunity to other races.”

The FPAA urged that editorial managers in news outlets based outside Africa update their image policies and censure their staff for their tendency to use images of Africans, people of African descent or people living in Africa to depict outbreaks of diseases or calamities.

“FPAA offers its readiness to support media houses seeking to review their editorial policies to reflect correct framing of Africa, people of African descent and people living in Africa,” it said.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), Monkeypox is a viral zoonosis – a virus transmitted to humans from animals – with symptoms similar to those seen in the past in smallpox patients, although it is clinically less severe.

With the eradication of smallpox in 1980 and the subsequent cessation of smallpox vaccination, monkeypox has emerged as the most important orthopoxvirus for public health.

Stigma jeopardises public health: UNAIDS

In a related statement, UNAIDS on May 22 expressed concern that some public reporting and commentary on Monkeypox has used language and imagery, particularly portrayals of LGBT and African people, that reinforce homophobic and racist stereotypes and exacerbate stigma. Lessons from the AIDS response show that stigma and blame directed at certain groups of people can rapidly undermine outbreak response.

UNAIDS urges media, governments, and communities to respond with a rights-based, evidence-based approach that avoids stigma.

“Stigma and blame undermine trust and capacity to respond effectively during outbreaks like this one,” said Matthew Kavanagh, UNAIDS Deputy Executive Director. “Experience shows that stigmatizing rhetoric can quickly disable evidence-based response by stoking cycles of fear, driving people away from health services, impeding efforts to identify cases, and encouraging ineffective, punitive measures. We appreciate the LGBTI community for having led the way on raising awareness – and we reiterate that this disease can affect anyone.”

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Monkeypox

Monkeypox is a disease of global public health importance as it not only affects countries in west and central Africa, but the rest of the world. In 2003, the first monkeypox outbreak outside of Africa was in the USA and was linked to contact with infected pet prairie dogs. These pets had been housed with Gambian pouched rats and dormice that had been imported into the country from Ghana.

In May 2022, multiple cases of monkeypox were identified in several non-endemic countries. Studies are currently underway to further understand the epidemiology, sources of infection, and transmission patterns.