Stigma as a facilitator of the 2022 mpox outbreak

This review aims at exploring how stigma played a role in the naming of mpox, its classification, and how anti-LGBT+ bias and systemic racism all played roles in facilitating the outbreak.

The naming of mpox is in flux with recent efforts to change back to monkeypox in the United States, which could exacerbate stigma and discrimination. Anti-LGBT+ bias affected access to mpox testing, treatment, and prevention, but mpox also served as a facilitator of homophobic rhetoric. Systemic racism and colonialism both affect the global response to mpox and could further promote endemic fatalism and a lack of equitable global health mpox prevention.

Stigma served as a facilitator of the 2022 mpox outbreak, which was unique from previous outbreaks due to it affecting multiple historically neglected and marginalized populations. Anti-LGBT+ stigma, systemic racism, endemic fatalism, and colonialism all played roles within this outbreak and must be addressed to prevent future outbreaks of mpox.