5. Identify and address stigma linked to mpox

Mpox infections are often highly visible due to the distinctive lesions can appear on the face, hands, and body, which may cause fear or discomfort in others.

As you know, people can contract mpox from close contact with people infected with mpox, such as within their household, including through intimate sexual contact. Other transmission routes include contact with contaminated objects and contact with infected animals.

What can you do as a frontline worker or educator to fight stigma?[

• Work within existing health and social networks to reach priority populations and seek advice from experts and associations. For example, to identify sex workers infected with mpox, work with the HIV programme.
• Conduct interviews with empathy and protect patient privacy when collecting information on sensitive topics.
• Provide patients with adequate supportive care, space in an isolation unit that protects their privacy, prevents disease transmission, and allows them to maintain contact with their families.
• Work/collaborate with individuals who are part of priority populations who have recovered from mpox as peer supports to assist individuals and families affected by mpox.
• Avoid stigmatizing terms that associate people with an illness or refer to people by a condition.
• Communicate clearly about the different clades/variants in circulation and the different modes of transmission that pose a risk to people in the local context.
• Mpox and HIV are potentially stigmatized diseases. Avoid comparisons to reduce confusion or accidentally spread misinformation.
• Work with organizations and community networks for communities experiencing discrimination to generate more accurate population estimates (and other types of data) to inform vaccination microplanning.
• Understand the role that stigma plays in the perception of the vaccine, the vaccinator, the health system and the people prioritized for vaccination.
• Identify ways to reach people from communities affected by stigmatization to call them back for a second dose.
• Link mpox vaccination with non-stigmatized health and social services, such as the provision of condoms and blood pressure checks for adults, and catch up on routine vaccinations, nutritional counselling and vitamin A supplements for children.