Renaming is just the beginning: Mpox
The names of medical conditions can give us information about how an illness is caused or its primary symptoms. However, these names can sometimes be misleading or inaccurate.
In the case of mpox, formerly known as monkeypox, the disease spreads primarily from person to person – not through contact with monkeys. To reflect this and reduce stigma around the virus, the World Health Organization (WHO) renamed the disease as mpox in November 2022.
We asked three of our experts to weigh in on how condition names can perpetuate stigma in healthcare – and the steps M Health Fairview is taking to reduce this barrier to care for mpox.
Why is this change important?
The name “monkeypox” perpetuates misconceptions about who has mpox and how the virus is spread. Individuals affected by the recent global outbreak did not live in places that monkeys inhabit and did not have close contact with monkeys. This name led to misconceptions about who was getting infected, and stigmatizing language began to appear when discussing mpox.
How does stigma appear in healthcare?
Stigma occurs when a person or group of people is labeled as having characteristics that are undesirable. People experiencing stigma may avoid seeking medical care because they’re afraid they’ll be treated poorly.
“People experiencing stigma can be the targets of disrespectful words and actions and, in healthcare, stigmatized patients can be wrongly considered as less deserving of medical treatment,” said Taj Mustapha, MD, chief equity strategy officer with M Health Fairview and an associate professor in the Department of Pediatrics at University of Minnesota Medical School. “As healthcare providers, we must be aware that the language used in medicine impacts whether our patients feel understood and respected. The medical community should be eager to learn from patients how the terminology we use in healthcare affects their experience.”
How are we responding to stigma around mpox?
The current mpox outbreak has predominantly affected the LGBTQ+ community, which has already faced a long history of discrimination.
Our health system recognized early on that stigma was likely affecting people’s comfort and ability to seek out vaccinations and treatment for mpox. Our Community Advancement team at M Health Fairview partnered with our infectious disease experts and pharmacy leaders to better understand and respond to these. Our Community Advancement team aims to center community voices, actively listen, and collaborate with our community to provide meaningful care.
In response to the mpox outbreak, we connected with trusted LGBTQ+ community-based organizations and received community feedback on the language our system was using for mpox vaccination eligibility criteria.
“The edits reflected a shift in how we describe risk and recognized broader ways someone may identify themself,” said Ingrid Johansen, senior manager of community clinical care with M Health Fairview. “We also emphasized prevention strategies and opportunities to engage community-based organizations to host community vaccination clinics in trusted spaces.”
Our ongoing commitment to destigmatizing healthcare
Changing the name of a misleading medical term is an important way to reduce stigma associated with that condition. However, the stigma associated with some medical conditions can go deeper than a name. COVID-19 was named according to WHO best practices but, despite this, the pandemic saw an increase in reports of hate crimes against Asian Americans. Stigma is rooted not only in language, but in attitudes – especially those that arise from judgment instead of knowledge.
“Disparities in health outcomes threaten the wellbeing of our communities, and stigma is one of the reasons these disparities arise and stubbornly persist,” said Alison Galdys, MD, an infectious disease physician and assistant medical director of infection prevention with M Health Fairview. Galdys also serves as an assistant professor in the Department of Medicine at University of Minnesota Medical School. “Replacing language that reinforces stereotypes is a necessary step in reducing stigma and its associated harms, but it’s not enough on its own. We’re committed to proactively seeking out and reducing sources of stigma within our health system.”
The next steps in this journey of creating a nurturing healthcare environment — one where everyone is treated with dignity and respect — require us to listen to how stigma is harming our patients and communities and continue our work to destigmatize healthcare.
