Mental Health

When I was diagnosed as HIV-positive I turned to sex as a way to cope with how I was feeling about myself. I lost all confidence and self-condemned myself to the ‘unwanted’ pile. I relied on the quick fix that sex brought to make myself feel better again.  It was the connection, contact and ultimately acceptance, along with being desired, that I craved which sex provided me with – no matter the circumstance.  I didn’t set out to intentionally put myself at risk again after being d

“And now its Wed. Tue was another day from the Hellien Gods. Centered around my new bodily curiousity the nature of which is too delicate for my demure conversational boundaries.” … as written to an older female friend earlier today. Thoughts change quickly. Well, fuck demure. As I wrote to another friend, David: "Re: sex - I doubt it will happen again in my lifetime. When I think of it, sex fucked up my life. As you said, “So much disease with sex.” And do we really pay attention?

Dr. Clark, I choose to address you using this name, as this is the name that you are licensed under by the State of Georgia in the United States of America under the auspices of the Composite State Board of Medical Examiners under medical license #024915 first issued on June 14, 1983 which expires on August 31, 2019. Besides being a board certified Anesthesiologist who trained at McGill University (Class of 1980) in Montreal, Quebec Canada, you also are a Georgia State Legislator from their 4

PEPFAR's new three-year strategy, which was announced at the UN General Assembly in September, focuses efforts on 13 countries with high HIV prevalence that are nearing epidemic control – the point at which there are more annual AIDS-related deaths than there are new HIV infections. Under PEPFAR’s 2017-2021 strategy, Botswana, Côte d’Ivoire, Haiti, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Swaziland, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe will see PEPFAR-funded programmes renewed and ex

Thanks to effective anti-HIV treatment, HIV has evolved into a chronic illness. However, people living with HIV often today also live with other physical and mental health conditions, which can be difficult to cope with, especially for those also coping with difficult socio-economic circumstances. To provide quality care to people living with HIV and other long-term medical and social conditions, health-care providers not only need to ensure  that people living with HIV are engaged in qualit

"I tested positive seven years ago and up to date no member from my immediate family knows about and I am not ready to disclose to them soon. I just vowed to live with my condition in silence rather than taking the risk of looking for worse by revealing my status. I saw what my aunt went through before she passed on and I can't imagine going through the same hell." This is what John, a barber in an estate within Nairobi, told me as he shaved me. We came to be friends after I went to his shop

In his famous poem “The Blind Men and the Elephant”, John Godfrey Saxe retells an Indian parable about three blind men who went to see an elephant. Of course, being blind, they could only ‘see’ the elephant by touching it. When asked to describe the elephant, one grabbed it by its trunk and said, “An elephant is like a snake!” The second man took his turn to touch it, pulled it by the leg, and confidently determined, “No, an elephant is like a tree trunk!” The third and final p

Talking about faith: a Christian with HIV, Horcelie Sinda Wa Mbongo (currently Miss Congo UK), and Vida Boateng, in one of the videos in the resource A NEW government-funded video series produced by Christians living with, or affected by, HIV has been praised by church leaders and health professionals. The online resource, Positive Faith, explores the relationship between HIV and faith. It is due to be launched in London next Thursday, 12 October, by the charity Catholics for A

The impact of PrEP on quality of life in reducing HIV-related anxiety and more dynamic and fulfilled sex lives is potentially as important as hard endpoints for reduced HIV infections. Mitzy Gafos presented experiences from using PrEP as part of the UK PROUD study, based on semi-structured interviews with 41 participants. In addition to reporting behavioural changes, the results gave insight into psychological impact of PrEP. Many of these imply significant changes in outlooks and approach

To read the complete article by David Garmaise, visit Aidspan, here. The appropriations committees in the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives have approved funding for global health programs for the fiscal year 2018 at about the same levels as the previous year. In so doing, the committees ignored the budget proposed by President Donald Trump which called for cuts of $2.5 billion overall, including $225 million less for the Global Fund and $1 billion less for PEPFAR. The U.S. 2018

This article by Lewis Oakley previously appeared at Pink News, here Hey lads, Today is an important day and I wanted to send you a message. As Twitter and some decent news sites erupt in a blue, pink and purple celebration of Bi Visibility, I know you can’t show your support for fear someone may find out. Mates that would never accept bisexuality and insist you must be a gay man now. A girlfriend that will be embarrassed and worried your relationship will be seen as a joke by everyone. Fa

Risky business. Risk taker. High risk. That’s not how people want to be seen when it comes to HIV. In the epidemic, the word “risk” is associated with the notion of “doing something wrong.” So using the words “at risk” becomes risky in itself. It runs the risk of turning people off, and away from prevention messages. People may not avail themselves of condoms or PrEP (the HIV prevention pill) if they don’t identify with risk. If they don’t identify with HIV ris

Ever since I was a child, I knew I related to the world differently than those around me. I was always the kid on the outside fringes, being bullied and yearning for acceptance from the common crowd. A problem child, as my parents would remark. I remember being full of anger and defiant. I felt as though I had little control over my mood. Self-regulation was something that escaped me. While in school, I went through the process of a psycho-educational assessment with the goal of providing sup

“Today, by examining from the personal perspective of PLWHIV we want to zero in on what has worked... in terms of accessing services; what needs to be improved, and by listening to people who developed and implemented programs that are innovative, what they think can be adapted elsewhere, plus find out how they did what they did and finally where can these services go next.” – Tammy C. Yates, Opening Remarks to Realize Forum 2017 Realize is the only national organization that has worked

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation spends just over $3bn a year on development assistance: ‘There’s no way to balance a cut in a rich country’s generosity.’ Photograph: Edgar Su/Reuters To read the complete article by Kate Hodal, visit The Guardian, here. Bill Gates has warned that organisations like his are “absolutely not” prepared to plug the yawning gaps in development aid that will result from funding cuts, including those proposed by President Trump. Speaking to the