Swine flu is still swine flu in New Zealand, despite a World Health Organisation ruling that the disease should now officially be called "influenza A (H1N1)".

"I've got no intention of changing how I'm referring to it," Health Minister Tony Ryall told reporters, insisting that it was important to use a term the public understood.

Director of public health Mark Jacobs said his ministry would use the term the WHO requested in official communications, but he would use language recognised and understood by the wider community in communications with the public.