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World Aids Day (2017) – Facts About HIV & AIDS

By HealthNo Comments
world-aids-day-ribbon-2017 Today is World AIDS Day. To raise awareness of HIV and AIDS here some facts:
  • Over 36 million people have HIV across the world. This number is increasing year on year, partly because people with HIV are living longer due to better treatment.
  • There are around 103,000 people with HIV in the UK.
  • Groups of people most at risk of getting HIV include: those who have regular sex without a condoms, those men that have sex with men, those who are of a black African ethnicity, those whom sex work and those who inject drugs.
  • Although there is no cure for HIV, treatment is better than it has ever been. Anti-retroviral therapy (ART) is very effective at preventing HIV from replicating and can lead to someone with HIV having an undetectable HIV load. But treatment does come with side effects including: depression, anxiety, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, tiredness, exhaustion and rashes.
  • As well as the physical effects of HIV and its treatment, there are many social impacts to. Stigma is still experienced by too many people whom are HIV positive today. People whom are positive report experiencing stigma at their places of work, shamefully in the NHS, by family and friends, on social media and sometimes from the mainstream media.
  • The best way to prevent the spread of HIV is to always use a condom when having sex; know your HIV status (by regular testing in sexual health clinics) and the status of your sexual partner(s); if you inject drugs don’t share needles or other injecting equipment.
  • If you think you’ve been exposed to HIV, to take post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP) treatment if available.

Here are some videos were people share their experiences of being HIV positive, they are well worth a watch and each is only about a minute long:

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Sources & Resources
NAT – Teachers Resources.
NAT – Teachers Resources – HIV Facts.
NAT – HIV IN THE UK STATISTICS – 2015.
NHS Choices – HIV and AIDS.
NHS Choices – HIV and AIDS, 7. Prevention.
Terrence Higgins Trust – HIV treatment.
WORLD AIDS DAY.
World Health Organisation – HIV/AIDS – Post-exposure prophylaxis.

Take care and write soon,

Antony

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Friday 1 December 2017

Mental Health Focus: 5 Brilliant TED Talks About Mental Health

By HealthNo Comments

Here are five brilliant TED Talks about mental health:

1. Ruby Wax: What’s so funny about mental illness?

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2. Elyn Saks: A tale of mental illness — from the inside

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3. Eleanor Longden: The voices in my head

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4. Mark Henick: Why we choose suicide

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5. Kevin Breel: Confessions of a depressed comic

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What’s interesting is that none of these speakers is British. I think we are too worried about the stigma. I’ve wrote a series of Mental Health Focus blog posts to help to #EndTheStigma around mental health and to encourage others to talk openly and honestly about their own mental health. Each week in January, I’ll be posting one of these Mental Health Focus blog posts.

How do you manage your own mental and emotional health? Leave a comment below.

If you are experiencing an episode of poor mental health, two useful websites are: Mind and SANE. If you are feeling suicidal please visit your nearest A&E Department for crisis support.

Blog soon,

Antony

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Tuesday 6 January 2015

Robin Williams Tribute Video & My Thoughts About Poor Mental Health

By Health, Thinking2 Comments

Robin Williams, the Actor & Comedian recently committed suicide after suffering from severe depression undiagnosed Dementia with Lewy bodies (see Blog Correction: Robin Williams’ Cause of Death). Like people around the world, I was shocked and saddened by the news.

Here’s a brilliant Tribute video to Robin Williams; that’s just 1 minute long:

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1 in 4 people will suffer from poor mental health at a least one point in their lives. And it is said that poor mental health runs in families. When I’ve talking about poor mental health, I’m thinking about the following conditions: depression, anxiety, panic attacks, bipolar, obsessive compulsive disorder, eating disorders, schizophrenia, personality disorders and suicidal thoughts.

I have suffered from poor mental health in the past. Looking at my close circle of family and friends, I know that most of them have as well. Yes to varying degrees of severity, but their poor mental health has effected their life. So I think the 1 in 4 statistic must be at best conservative. Yet there’s still a stigma attached to mental health, which seems to make it a taboo topic of conversation.

It’s time that things changed. We should talk about mental health. We should know how to look after our own mental health and how to best support our loved ones that are experiencing poor mental health. Too many people die because of their poor mental health. Robin Williams was one of these too many people.

If you are experiencing an episode of poor mental health, two useful websites are: Mind and SANE. If you are feeling suicidal please visit your nearest A&E Department for crisis support, before putting your thoughts into action.

Take care,

Antony

Edited: Monday 5th February 2024 at 07:00.

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Saturday 16 August 2014
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