The United Nations’ AIDS agency (UNAIDS) has come out heavily against racist coverage of monkeypox after the recent outbreak in the number of monkeypox virus cases surge.
This is what UNAIDS declared in its official press release, “Lessons from the AIDS response show that stigma and blame directed at certain groups of people can rapidly undermine outbreak response,” it said.
As a number of news agencies are reporting monkeypox to be a gender based disease, they have no clarity of the subject.
Please note that Monkeypox is a viral disease that occurs with a flu like symptoms which have the capacity to turn into lesions all over the body. The condition is similar to smallpox which is a milder form of the disease.
UNAIDS Calls Out Homophobic & Racist Coverage of Monkeypox
The monkeypox virus can be transmitted through an animal, person or any surface which has been infected previously.
However, researchers believe that human to human transmission happens mainly through inhalation of respiratory droplets instead of having direct contact with body fluids.
On Sunday, May 22, 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed as many as 92 cases of monkeypox and suspected over 28 other cases. As per an update, Belgium has become the first country to impose a quarantine for monkeypox.
As per WHO, it’s too early to determine if the transmission of monkeypox virus is linked to any kind of sexually transmitted disease (STD).
“While close physical contact is a well-known risk factor for transmission, it is unclear at this time if monkeypox can be transmitted specifically through sexual transmission routes,” it said.
Read @Boghuma @klts0 link #HIV to #COVID19 to #monkeypox “Monkeypox is not a gay disease and neither are any other infectious diseases…//t.co/H7aMDFOq37
— Matthew Kavanagh (@MMKavanagh) May 22, 2022
In this regard, there is an article by UNAIDS deputy executive editor, Matthew Kavanaugh who stresses that there are some similarities between the news around the AIDS epidemic and homophobic coverage of monkeypox virus.
“Monkeypox is not a gay disease and neither are any other infectious diseases,” the article states. “It is unfortunate that this still needs to be said, highlighting how little we have learned from previous outbreaks.” it said.
Please be aware that monkeypox happens to be an emerging virus which may not pose to be a huge threat to the US citizens.
Also Read: 67 Monkeypox Cases Found In Nine EU Countries Over Last Week – ECDC
