AFRICAN MEDIA professionals have blasted the use of stock images of black people infected with monkeypox across worldwide media as reported outbreaks of the disease remain in majority-white Western countries.

The Foreign Press Association Africa (FPAA) said in a statement that they “condemn the perpetuation of this negative stereotype that assigns calamity to the African race, and privilege and immunity to the other races” when the majority of recorded cases are throughout Europe and North America.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), monkeypox is a zoonotic disease caused by the monkeypox virus which is a member of the Orthopoxvirus genus in the family Poxviridae.

Therefore, the FPAA pushed back against the media narrative and stated that the disease can “occur in any region of the world” and afflict anyone of any race.

“As such, we believe that no race or complexion should be the face of this disease,” the statement read.

“It is therefore disturbing for European and North American media outlets to use stock images bearing persons with dark/black and African skin complexion to depict an outbreak of the disease in the United Kingdom and North America.

“Shouldn’t it be logical that if you are talking about the outbreak of monkeypox in Europe or the Americas, you should use images from hospitals across Europe or the Americas? Or in the absence of such use of collection of electron micrographs with labelled subcellular structures?” 

There are currently 144 known cases of monkeypox. Most of the cases originate from Spain, while the UK has 20 confirmed patients, including Scotland and Portugal has logged 34 cases of the disease. 

The US, Canada and Australia have also reported outbreaks of the virus.

The first confirmed case of the disease was reported on May 7 from a patient who had recently travelled to Nigeria.

It is understood that the person could have been infected there before their journey to England.

Monkeypox – which can cause pus-filled lesions to appear on the skin along with symptoms such as headaches and a fever – was first detected in 1958 when two outbreaks of a pox-like disease hit colonies where monkeys were kept for research.

It wasn’t until 1970 that the first human case of a 9-year-old boy was recorded in the Democratic Republic of Congo with the disease.

As European and North American nations deal with the outbreak it is thought to be the first time the monkeypox virus has been detected in people with no clear connection to Western and Central Africa, BBC News reported.

Critics have argued that the origins of the disease are the reason for the use of black people in worldwide media stock images despite the developing cases in mainly Western nations. 

However, the FPPA hit back at white-led media houses and their editorial managers, accusing them of “preserving white purity” through “black criminality or culpability.”

“We find these actions to be very insensitive. It is glaring in the lack of dignity afforded to black and brown-skinned victims of disease outbreaks. It is a lack of nuance and empathy given to people suffering from this disease. 

“At a time when the world is forging alliances against systemic racism and racial stereotypes, the media should be at the forefront of shaping positive images and narratives.”

The FFPA went on to offer support to media houses who were willing to revise their policies in the portrayal of “Africa, people of African descent, and people living in Africa.”