Patients with high HIV risk are aware of preventative pill, but few are using it
Cisgender sexual minority men and transgender women are aware of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily pill for HIV-negative people to prevent HIV infection, but few are currently taking it, according to researchers at Rutgers.
The study, published in the journal
AIDS and Behavior, surveyed 202 young sexual minority men and transgender women - two high-priority populations for HIV prevention - to better understand why some were more likely than others to be taking PrEP.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, sexual minority men are the community most impacted by HIV, making up 69 percent of all new diagnoses in 2018, and transgender populations are disproportionately affected by HIV and prevention challenges. While Black and Hispanic/Latinx populations are mostly likely to be newly diagnosed with HIV, PrEP users are more likely to be white.
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States with stricter firearms laws reported lower suicide and homicide rates, according to a Rutgers study.
The study, conducted by the New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center, the Rutgers School of Public Health, the Rutgers University-Newark Department of Psychology, the Rutgers School of Criminal Justice, the Rutgers New Jersey Medical School and the Rutgers-Newark Department of Social Work, was published in the
Journal of Public Health and examined the association between firearm laws and suicide and homicide rates.
Firearm violence is a major public health concern in the United States, with firearm suicide and homicide accounting for the majority of gun deaths. In 2017, 66,683 people died by suicide and homicide with a majority of the deaths resulting from a firearm: 48 percent for suicide and 74 percent for homicide.
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Beliefs about and experiences with healthcare may influence people’s use of the HIV prevention pill, says Rutgers study
Cisgender sexual minority men and transgender women are aware of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), a daily pill for HIV-negative people to prevent HIV infection, but few are currently taking it, according to researchers at Rutgers.
The study, published in the journal
AIDS and Behavior, surveyed 202 young sexual minority men and transgender women – two high-priority populations for HIV prevention – to better understand why some were more likely than others to be taking PrEP.
The researchers, who are part of the Rutgers School of Public Health’s Center for Health, Identity, Behavior and Prevention Studies (CHIBPS), found that while 98 percent of the study’s participants were aware of PrEP, less than 25 percent were currently taking it.
There is one caveat, though, according to one infectious disease expert. Outdoor masking in most ordinary circumstances is not going to provide extraordinary value, Dr. Amesh A. Adalja, senior scholar at the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security, told Yahoo. If you re in a crowd where people can’t social distance, masks make sense. But in ordinary outdoor environments, there s not much value to it.
Another expert, Perry N. Halkitis, dean of the Rutgers School of Public Health, told Yahoo that the uptake of vaccination leads us in a direction over time that could lead to not wearing masks. But we are nowhere near that point.
Eliminating racist and anti-LGBTQ policies is essential to improving the health of Black gay, bisexual, and other sexual minority men, according to a new study.
Researchers examined the effect that US state-level structural racism and anti-LGBTQ policies have on the psychological and behavioral health of Black and white sexual minority men.
“Our results illuminate the compounding effects of racist and anti-LGBTQ policies and their implementation for Black gay, bisexual, and queer men,” says Devin English, an assistant professor at Rutgers School of Public Health and lead author of the paper in the
“To improve mental and physical health and support their human rights, these oppressive policies must be changed.”