Today, HHS announced it will adopt the WHO’s new preferred term “mpox” instead of monkeypox disease and will use it from now on to avoid stigma around the disease and further promote access to quality care.
“We welcome the change by the World Health Organization. We must do all we can to break down barriers to public health, and reducing stigma associated with disease is one critical step in our work to end mpox,” said U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
The WHO is the international body responsible for naming diseases. Leaders in the U.S. have been engaging with stakeholders on a regular basis regarding our shared concerns and have been in close communication with counterparts at the WHO expressing support of an urgent process to change the name and propose a way forward with a new name.
In response to today’s action by the WHO, federal public health agencies will adopt the mpox name in correspondence with the medical community and American public from this point forward. This change from the WHO can help enhance the U.S.
Human monkeypox was given its name in 1970, before the publication of WHO’s best practices in naming diseases was published in 2015. According to the WHO’s best practices, new disease names should be given with the aim to minimize unnecessary negative impact of names on trade, travel, tourism or animal welfare, and avoid causing offence to any cultural, social, national, regional, professional or ethnic groups.
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