The United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS, or UNAIDS, is sounding the alarm on “homophobic and racist” reporting on the recent spread of monkeypox, saying that stigmatizing language can have a devastating effect on the efficacy of the response to the outbreak.
“Stigma and blame undermine trust and capacity to respond effectively during outbreaks like this one,” Matthew Kavanagh, UNAIDS deputy executive director, said Sunday in a statement.
On Saturday, the World Health Organization said there were 92 confirmed cases and 28 suspected infections from 12 different non-endemic countries, where the disease is not typically found. Initial epidemiological investigations have so far found no “established travel links to endemic areas.”
And based on currently available information, cases have been “mainly but not exclusively” identified among sexually active gay and bisexual men, WHO officials added, while noting that contamination risk is not limited to men who have sex with men.
UNAIDS, which began operating in 1996 as a global response to the AIDS epidemic, is now urging governments, media outlets and communities to report on the spread of monkeypox “with a rights-based, evidence-based approach that avoids stigma.”
The monkeypox virus is transmitted from one person to another by close contact with lesions, body fluids, respiratory droplets and contaminated materials such as bedding, according to WHO officials. The incubation period is usually from 6 to 13 days but can range from 5 to 21 days.
According to UNAIDS, lessons learned from four decades of fighting to end AIDS — a disease that has killed more than 36 million people worldwide — “show that stigma and blame directed at certain groups of people can rapidly undermine outbreak response.”
“Experience shows that stigmatizing rhetoric can quickly disable evidence-based response by stoking cycles of fear, driving people away from health services, impeding efforts to identify cases, and encouraging ineffective, punitive measures,” said Kavanagh.
The recent monkeypox outbreak is another reminder that the world will continue to face threats from viruses, and international collaboration, as well as fact-based knowledge, is essential for public health.
“This outbreak highlights the urgent need for leaders to strengthen pandemic prevention, including building stronger community-led capacity and human rights infrastructure to support effective and non-stigmatizing responses to outbreaks,” he added. “Stigma hurts everyone. Shared science and social solidarity help everyone.”
Kavanagh also reiterated that “this disease can affect anyone” and thanked members of the LGBTQ community “for having led the way on raising awareness.”
