Monkeypox is sweeping the globe. The World Health Organization recorded over 500 cases in 30 countries this past year aEUR”, including the United Kingdom and several European nations.
How do Western media outlets illustrate this story? CNBC, ABC News, CNBC, and the Independent all used stock photos of Black people with monkeypox blisters.
It would seem as though Nigeria, which has 247 cases in 2017 and 66 this year, would only use photos of people with monkeypox to cover its national epidemic.
Absurd, right?
Health equity advocates and Africans have swiftly reacted to Western media’s use Black arms and Black faces with monkeypox. Mercy Abang, a Nigerian journalist, tweeted: “Here’s a great example of media bias. Monkeypox has been reported worldwide in countries, but [photos] of blacks. Tragic.”
Professor of Epidemiology at McGill University, Dr. Madhu Pai tweeted: “Journalists & editors of global North media outlets need training in how to avoid being racist & stigmatizing their reporting Ebola. Covid. Monkeypox.”
This coverage is similar to media reporting on the 2017 outbreak of monkeypox in Nigeria. A BMJ Global Health Journal review on media coverage of monkeypox was co-authored by me. Here’s how “Voice from Europe,” a newspaper, described the first case in England of monkeypox in 2018. It was a “horrible Nigerian virus called monkeypox that spreads to the United Kingdom.”
Now and then: Blame Africa for monkeypox.
These are my suggestions to Western journalists about how to frame the monkeypox tale aEUR” as well as advice to public health officials about how to handle the spread of the disease.
Give the facts.
According to the World Health Organization, monkeypox is a zoonosis. It is a disease that can be transmitted from animals and humans. It is most common in Central and West Africa, where it is often found near tropical rainforests. It can also be found anywhere in the world.
The first case of monkeypox in the United States was reported outside Africa in six states: aEUR” Illinois (Indiana), Kansas, Missouri Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Kansas. Human contact with prairie dogs infected as pets was the cause of this outbreak. Prairie dogs are herbivorous burrowing mammals that live in the North American grasslands. The pets became infected when an Illinois animal distributor reportedly kept them near small mammals from Ghana.
This outbreak led to more than 70 cases. They were all spread by contact with infected prairie dogs or people who had been infected with prairie dogs.
Although genetic evidence suggests that the international epidemic originated in Nigerian, the virus may have been spread by person-to–person contact in Europe for several months.
Examine the causes of the outbreak.
Monkeypox has been spreading around the world since at least 2000. It has not happened until now. Journalists have to speak to scientists to find out if there has been any change in the virus’ spread.
Take a look at the response of Africa to monkeypox.
The affected countries do not have to invent the wheel when fighting this virus. Africa is equipped with the knowledge and expertise to respond to epidemics of infectious diseases. This is something we do every day, even for monkeypox. Recently, Ifedayo Adetifa, director general of the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (Nigeria Centre for Disease Control), tweeted about Nigeria’s monkeypox experiences:
Nigeria’s first case of #MonkeyPox in Nigeria was discovered in 1971. After a 40-year hiatus monkeypox was rediscovered in 2017. We have had sporadic cases since then and have managed them. These are the @NCDCgov resources for #Monkeypox.
Adetifa also shared the National Monkeypox Public Health Response Guidelines. This document contains important information that will assist Western countries in responding to the outbreak and preventing future outbreaks. A key lesson learned from Nigeria was the establishment of a monkeypox emergency operation center to coordinate all aspects. It is headed by a senior member of staff at the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control, and supported by other international health agencies.
Here’s what I would tell my children.
My daughters Chimamanda (9 years old) and Yagazie (12 years old) asked me to explain monkeypox to them. Monkeypox is a common disease in Africa, but it can also occur anywhere. The infection can be transmitted from animals to people. When one comes in contact with the sores or body fluids of others infected, it is known as human to human transmission. This is a worrying development for people living in Africa.
I’d also like to offer them monkeypox prevention advice. Monkeypox does not look as fatal as it seems. The current strain isn’t usually fatal. They should remember to wash their hands after returning from outings, as my mother and I taught them. This is one way to keep yourself safe.
If they were interested in knowing why biased reporting is common in Western media, I would tell them that global healthcare has a colonial past and that some Western media outlets still hold onto colonial images of Africa as a disease-ridden, backwards continent.
I would also advise them to not allow the media or anyone else aEUR’s to make them feel inferior for being Black. They must continue pushing back.
Ifeanyi Nsofor, director of policy advocacy at Nigeria Health Watch, is also a senior New Voices fellow at Aspen Institute.
