Health

/ /

For pioneering AIDS activists, monkeypox outbreak evokes déjà vu

As cases of monkeypox surge around the globe, four pioneers of the AIDS activist movement watch in awe and with a sense of nostalgia. Some of the similarities between the two viruses speak for themselves. Like the HIV strain that started the AIDS pandemic in the late 1970s, the current monkeypox outbreak has emerged from sub-Saharan Africa and has been found overwhelmingly in men who have sex with men who live in the world’s metropolises. And while epidemiologists have not reached a complete understanding of how the current outbreak of monkeypox spreads, recent research points to sexual transmission. Four pioneering AIDS activists of the […]

/ /

More than 1 in 8 LGBTQ people live in states where doctors can refuse to treat them

South Carolina became the seventh state last month to permit health care providers to decline to serve people if they feel doing so would violate their religious beliefs.  As a result, more than 1 in 8 LGBTQ people now live in states where doctors, nurses and other health care professionals can legally refuse to treat them, according to the Movement Advancement Project, an LGBTQ think tank. In addition to South Carolina, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas, Tennessee, Ohio and Illinois have similar measures in effect. “The conflict between patient needs and religious directives has been a serious problem in the past, and […]

/ /

Monkeypox is not a “gay disease” but it is being painted that way worldwide

In March 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic was ravaging the world, a poster appeared in several places in Hyderabad, India. The poster warned, “Do not allow Kojjas, Hijras [an Indian transfeminine community] near the shops. If you talk to them or have sex with them, you will be infected with CoronaVirus. Beat & drive them away or call 100 [the emergency police contact in India] immediately. Save people from CoronaVirus Hijras. [sic]” Several transgender-rights activists took note, and eventually, the police responded by removing the posters and launching a probe to identify the miscreants. But, this was not the first time that marginalized communities – especially […]

/ / /

San Francisco officials declare state of emergency as monkeypox cases surge

,

San Francisco has declared a state of emergency, with the city in “desperate need of vaccines” as monkeypox cases skyrocket. The US has seen around 4,600 confirmed cases of monkeypox across the country. Of these cases, 261 have been detected in San Francisco, representing around 30 per cent of all cases in California. On Thursday (28 July), San Francisco mayor London Breed said: “We are at a very scary place. And we don’t want to be ignored by the federal government in our need. So many leaders of the LGBT community have also, weeks ago, asked for additional help and support […]

/ /

WHO chief advises reducing sex partners to avoid monkeypox

The head of the World Health Organization on Wednesday advised men at risk of catching monkeypox to consider reducing their sexual partners “for the moment” following the U.N. health agency declaring the escalating outbreaks in multiple countries to be a global emergency. WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said 98% of the monkeypox cases detected since the outbreaks emerged in May have been among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men. He called for those at risk to take steps to protect themselves. “That means making safe choices for yourself and others, for men who have sex with men,” Tedros said. […]

/ /

Why the WHO finally declared monkeypox a global public health emergency

On Saturday, July 23, World Health Organization Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus declared the spread of monkeypox to be a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), the organization’s loudest alarm bell signifying an emerging outbreak.  Since early May, more than 15,000 cases of monkeypox have been identified across more than 60 countries. Disease caused by the monkeypox virus typically involves a few days of fever and lymph node swelling followed by a rash, which can leave scars. Most cases in the current outbreak have resolved without hospitalization or the need for medication. As of July 7, there have been three deaths, all of them in Africa. When […]

/ / /

Trans people in Southern states have to travel & pay more just to get medical care, study finds

,

Nearly 50 percent of transgender people travel outside of their state of residence to get gender-affirming genital surgeries, according to a new study from Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU). The percentage could increase as more states put bans against gender-affirming healthcare for trans people in place, the study’s authors say. The study, published Wednesday in JAMA Surgery, looked at 771 transgender patients who had a vaginoplasty or phalloplasty between 2007 and 2019. It found that 49 percent left their state of residence to get the procedure. People who lived in southern states were more likely to have to leave their […]

/ /

Clinical trials could get monkeypox drug to desperate patients, but U.S. efforts lag

On a sultry Tuesday evening in New York City, Luke Brown excitedly opened a newly delivered bottle of black-and-orange pills, popped his first dose in his mouth, and washed it down with root beer. Having contracted monkeypox this month, the lanky, bespectacled 29-year-old project manager had been suffering from what he called “the most severe pain of my life” for over a week before he finally was able to obtain a course of antivirals — a treatment he hoped would soon clear up his lesions and alleviate his suffering. For Brown, this was cause for celebration. But it was also […]

/ /

Greece bans ‘sex-normalizing’ surgeries on intersex babies

Greece’s parliament has banned “sex-normalizing” surgeries on babies born intersex, with atypical chromosomes that affect their bodies in a way that does not fit with the normative definitions of male or female. Under a new law approved by parliament on Tuesday, surgeries that seek to ensure a child ascribes to traditional notions of male and female on people under the age of 15 years are banned in Greece, unless there is a court decision stating otherwise. The bill stipulates fines and a prison term for doctors conducting such surgery. Operations, including corrective surgeries or hormonal therapies to change face or body […]

/ /

Alabama cites abortion ruling in transgender medication case

Days after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that states can prohibit abortion, Alabama has seized on the decision to argue that the state should also be able to ban gender-affirming medical treatments for transgender youth. The case marks one of the first known instances in which a conservative state has tried to apply the abortion ruling to other realms, just as LGBTQ advocates and others were afraid would happen. Critics have expressed fear that the legal reasoning behind the high court ruling could lead to a rollback of decisions involving such matters as gay marriage and birth control. The state is asking a […]

«‹ 20 21 22 23›»