Stigma

TOS Recognizes National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in September Advances in Evidence-Based Treatment, But Barriers to Care Remain

Retrieved on: 
Friday, September 1, 2023

However, significant barriers to care remain, including equitable access and coverage for the care of children and adolescents living with obesity.

Key Points: 
  • However, significant barriers to care remain, including equitable access and coverage for the care of children and adolescents living with obesity.
  • The Obesity Society (TOS) recognizes these challenges noting that more work needs to be done to combat the disease as it marks National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month in September.
  • Huge strides have been made in offering a wide range of effective treatment options to children and adolescents with obesity.
  • Despite this statistic, TOS's pediatric obesity experts remain hopeful that the new AAP guidelines and initiatives such as National Childhood Obesity Awareness Month will help increase awareness and reduce the number of children impacted by obesity.

Government of Canada announces more than $81,000 investment to help address harms related to substance use in Scarborough, Ontario

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 29, 2023

"In Scarborough, and across Canada, we are committed to supporting community organizations, like L'Espoir de la Femme Immigrante, who help keep people who use drugs safe.

Key Points: 
  • "In Scarborough, and across Canada, we are committed to supporting community organizations, like L'Espoir de la Femme Immigrante, who help keep people who use drugs safe.
  • Together, we can help break the silence and isolation, and reduce the harms associated with substance use, save lives and promote people's best health."
  • "Thanks to today's funding from Health Canada, our organization has the opportunity to help the community by preventing issues of substance abuse.
  • All Canadians, including media and health professionals, can reduce stigma by changing the words they use related to substance use and people who use drugs.

Nigerians with HIV are stigmatised: study shows support from family and friends is crucial to well-being

Retrieved on: 
Monday, August 28, 2023

But people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings, like Nigeria, still face psychological challenges and poor health outcomes that are attributed to HIV-related stigma.

Key Points: 
  • But people living with HIV in resource-constrained settings, like Nigeria, still face psychological challenges and poor health outcomes that are attributed to HIV-related stigma.
  • Less is known about how much support people living with HIV get from family and significant others like close colleagues or religious leaders.
  • Our study aimed to assess the prevalence of and factors associated with support from family, friends and significant others.
  • We also assessed whether increased support would reduce stigma among people living with HIV, particularly perceived or internalised stigma.

Social support

    • For example, a friend of someone living with HIV could provide support by making sure that they took their HIV medications regularly.
    • The scores for three types of social support (family, friends and significant others) were combined to indicate overall social support.
    • This allowed us to investigate the association between experience of stigma, social support and HIV treatment adherence.

Friends reduce stigma

    • We found that when people living with HIV received support from close friends, they were less likely to experience stigma.
    • Generally, our study showed that people living with HIV in Nigeria who enjoyed support from family or friends were less likely to be affected by HIV-related stigma and associated poor health outcomes.
    • Our key message is that people living with HIV need social support from families, friends or significant others to improve their quality of life and reduce HIV-related stigma (especially internalised stigma).

Stigma and health outcomes

    • We hope to gather empirical data on the impact of HIV-related stigma on mental health outcomes (for example, depression and anxiety) and viral suppression among people living with HIV.
    • Our long-term goal is to collaborate with a sample of people living with HIV in Nigeria to develop, implement and evaluate culturally acceptable stigma reduction interventions to improve HIV treatment uptake and overall health outcomes.

Storm Antoni: why naming storms is a risky business

Retrieved on: 
Saturday, August 5, 2023

Since 2015, the UK’s Met Office has used forenames to label storms, as a strategy for improving people’s awareness of severe weather warnings.

Key Points: 
  • Since 2015, the UK’s Met Office has used forenames to label storms, as a strategy for improving people’s awareness of severe weather warnings.
  • The list of names for the 2023 storm season was compiled in conjunction with the Irish forecaster Met Éireann and KNMI, the Dutch national weather forecasting service.
  • Getting the public involved in naming storms injects an element of fun into the otherwise serious business of heightening awareness of perilous weather.

How storm names reflect cultural tendencies

    • With the exception of Cillian, which was the ninth most popular given to baby boys in Ireland in 2021, the 2022-23 storm names tend not to mirror today’s popular baby names.
    • Also, the storm names replicate the cultural tendency in Europe and elsewhere for forenames to be gendered.
    • These elements are considered to be linguistic femininity markers, that is, linguistic features that occur predominantly in female names and only rarely in male names.
    • Masculine names can hold greater prestige and there is debate about whether storms with feminine names are taken less seriously.

Naming things can adversely impact eponymous people

    • Using people’s forenames to identify things such as storms, that are not people, can also have unintended consequences.
    • Naming problems have been a constant thread throughout the pandemic too.
    • However, it can adversely impact people too.
    • The naming of storms, streets or buildings is a complicated and risky business precisely because names are not just benign words.

The Portrait Project gives clinical trial patients a platform to share their unique experiences and influence change

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 1, 2023

BERWYN, Pa. , Aug. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mural Health has launched a non-commercial initiative to share the stories of the people who make clinical research possible. The Portrait Project is a collection of stories detailing the personal experiences of trial participants, caregivers, and medical professionals. The accounts are uncensored and, often, brutally honest. Each story serves to educate by sharing our industry's victories, what is working, where we have fallen short, and opportunities to improve. In all cases, The Portrait Project aims to amplify the voices of patients and their loved-ones.

Key Points: 
  • The Portrait Project is a collection of stories detailing the personal experiences of trial participants, caregivers, and medical professionals.
  • In all cases, The Portrait Project aims to amplify the voices of patients and their loved-ones.
  • The Portrait Project serves to share these often-overlooked narratives, increase awareness, dispel misconceptions, reduce stigmas, and create a community that collectively uses its voice to influence positive change throughout the clinical research ecosystem.
  • You can access The Portrait Project on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or by visiting its website located at theportraitproject.io

The Portrait Project gives clinical trial patients a platform to share their unique experiences and influence change

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, August 1, 2023

BERWYN, Pa., Aug. 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Mural Health has launched a non-commercial initiative to share the stories of the people who make clinical research possible. The Portrait Project is a collection of stories detailing the personal experiences of trial participants, caregivers, and medical professionals. The accounts are uncensored and, often, brutally honest. Each story serves to educate by sharing our industry's victories, what is working, where we have fallen short, and opportunities to improve. In all cases, The Portrait Project aims to amplify the voices of patients and their loved-ones.

Key Points: 
  • The Portrait Project is a collection of stories detailing the personal experiences of trial participants, caregivers, and medical professionals.
  • In all cases, The Portrait Project aims to amplify the voices of patients and their loved-ones.
  • The Portrait Project serves to share these often-overlooked narratives, increase awareness, dispel misconceptions, reduce stigmas, and create a community that collectively uses its voice to influence positive change throughout the clinical research ecosystem.
  • You can access The Portrait Project on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or by visiting its website located at theportraitproject.io

Renaming obesity won't fix weight stigma overnight. Here's what we really need to do

Retrieved on: 
Sunday, July 30, 2023

Some researchers think the term “obesity” itself is part of the problem, and are calling for a name change to reduce stigma.

Key Points: 
  • Some researchers think the term “obesity” itself is part of the problem, and are calling for a name change to reduce stigma.
  • We study the stigma that surrounds obesity – around the time of pregnancy, among health professionals and health students, and in public health more widely.
  • Here’s what’s really needed to reduce weight stigma.

Weight stigma is common

    • Up to 42% of adults living in larger bodies experience weight stigma.
    • Weight stigma is associated with harms including increased cortisol levels (the main stress hormone in the body), negative body image, increased weight gain, and poor mental health.
    • Weight stigma may even pose a greater threat to someone’s health than increasing body size.

Should we rename obesity?

    • Calls to remove or rename health conditions or identifications to reduce stigma are not new.
    • Following many years of protests and activism, the term and condition were removed from the globally recognised classification of mental health disorders.
    • Perhaps it is finally time to follow suit and rename obesity.

A new name needs to go beyond BMI

    • First, most people use the term for people with a body-mass index (BMI) of 30kg/m² or above.
    • Most, if not all, public health organisations also use BMI to categorise obesity and make assumptions about health.
    • However, BMI alone is not enough to accurately summarise someone’s health.

Is obesity a disease anyway?

    • Yet there is still no universal consensus on whether obesity is a disease.
    • By this definition, obesity may not be classified as a disease until after harm from the additional weight occurs.
    • Renaming obesity may improve public understanding that while obesity is often associated with an increase in BMI, the increased BMI itself is not the disease.

Workshopping alternatives


    Before deciding to rename obesity, we need discussions between obesity and stigma experts, health-care professionals, members of the public, and crucially, people living with obesity. Such discussions can ensure robust evidence informs any future decisions, and proposed new terms are not also stigmatising.

    Read more:
    Today's disease names are less catchy, but also less likely to cause stigma

What else can we do?

    • Our constant exposure to the socially-defined and acceptable idealisation of smaller bodies (the “thin ideal”) and the pervasiveness of weight stigma means this stigma is deeply ingrained at a societal level.
    • Blake Lawrence is a member of The Obesity Society and The Obesity Collective.

Harmony Biosciences Announces Funding for Unique Community Initiatives Through its Patients and Progress at the Heart Awards Programs

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, July 25, 2023

Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. ("Harmony") (Nasdaq: HRMY), is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative therapies for patients with rare neurological diseases.

Key Points: 
  • Harmony Biosciences Holdings, Inc. ("Harmony") (Nasdaq: HRMY), is a pharmaceutical company dedicated to developing and commercializing innovative therapies for patients with rare neurological diseases.
  • "With the support of this funding, we can advance our educational program 'The Impact of Narcolepsy on Women's Health Across the Lifespan.'
  • Progress at the Heart provides funding support for novel initiatives addressing disparities, injustices, and inequities in the rare neurological disease and sleep disorder communities.
  • Harmony will announce recipients for the next round of Patients and Progress at the Heart awards in October 2023, continuing its commitment to the rare neurological and sleep disorder communities.

Commonwealth Care Alliance® Recognized as a Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion

Retrieved on: 
Monday, July 24, 2023

Commonwealth Care Alliance® (CCA) has earned recognition as a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” on the 2023 Disability Equality Index® (DEI) with a score of 100.

Key Points: 
  • Commonwealth Care Alliance® (CCA) has earned recognition as a “Best Place to Work for Disability Inclusion” on the 2023 Disability Equality Index® (DEI) with a score of 100.
  • Administered by Disability:IN and The American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD) , the DEI is the world’s most comprehensive benchmarking tool for companies to measure disability workplace inclusion.
  • CCA is a mission-driven healthcare services organization that offers high-quality health plans and care delivery programs designed for individuals with significant needs.
  • “It is especially poignant that we have earned this score to further commemorate CCA’s 20 years of uncommon care®.

ALZHEIMER'S ASSOCIATION MOURNS DEATH OF LEGENDARY SINGER TONY BENNETT

Retrieved on: 
Friday, July 21, 2023

CHICAGO, July 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alzheimer's Association is deeply saddened by the death of legendary singer Tony Bennett.

Key Points: 
  • CHICAGO, July 21, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- The Alzheimer's Association is deeply saddened by the death of legendary singer Tony Bennett.
  • Bennett and his family bravely revealed his Alzheimer's diagnosis in February 2021.
  • Over the next several years, Bennett regularly partnered with the Alzheimer's Association to raise funds and encourage more awareness about the disease.
  • "The Alzheimer's Association joins the world in mourning the loss of Tony Bennett, a great friend and champion of the cause.