On November 28, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it has officially changed the English name for the disease monkeypox from monkeypox to mpox to avoid possible racial discrimination and stigmatization.
As the monkeypox epidemic expanded this year, several studies reported racist and stigmatizing language on the Internet by the term monkeypox, which many feared would exacerbate the shame associated with the infection.
The WHO said mpox will become the preferred name for the disease after a transition period over the next year, and that the term mpox will be used in the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-11), which will be officially released in 2023.
But WHO also said it would not modify the term monkeypox in the previous ICDs to allow access to historical information.
