Africa CDC says renaming of monkeypox variants curbs stigma

By RODNEY MUHUMUZA
Associated Press

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) — The head of Africa’s public health agency says he’s “really pleased” that the World Health Organization is renaming the strains of the monkeypox disease to remove references to African regions to reduce concerns of stigmatization. The version of the disease formerly known as the Congo Basin is now called Clade 1 and the West Africa clade is called Clade 2, the U.N. health agency announced last week, saying it wil hold an open forum to rename monkeypox altogether. Ahmed Ogwell, acting director of the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said at a briefing Thursday that he is very glad that now the strains will be called Clade I and Clade 2 rather than names of African regions.