Awareness Day Archives - MyMedicPlus https://www.mymedicplus.com/blog/tag/awareness-day/ One Blog Daily For Health And Fitness Sat, 12 Mar 2022 09:28:13 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.4 Proclamation claims Oct. 13, 2020, as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day in Iowa https://www.mymedicplus.com/blog/proclamation-claims-oct-13-2020-as-metastatic-breast-cancer-awareness-day-in-iowa/ Fri, 16 Oct 2020 05:49:06 +0000 http://www.mymedicplus.com/news/?p=5737 The post Proclamation claims Oct. 13, 2020, as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day in Iowa appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

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We’re midway through the middle of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Thanks to an increase in awareness campaigns over the last 35 years, public knowledge about the disease has increased. Perhaps lesser known, though, is Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, which falls on Oct. 13. 

Metastatic breast cancer, also known as stage IV breast cancer, is cancer that has spread to other parts of the body outside of the breast. 

Approximately 250,000 Americans are diagnosed with breast cancer each year, with between 7,500 and 15,000 of them identified as being initially metastatic. While many treatments for breast cancer exist, once the cancer metastasizes, there is no cure. 

For Celeste Lawson (pictured left), who is a substitute teacher in the Des Moines area, this issue became personal when her mother, Lois E. Spinks-Lawson (pictured right), was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2014 and lost her battle with the disease on Jan. 19, 2019. 

“Anyone who knew my mother knows that she was a very strong-willed individual. She did everything she could to combat the effects of metastatic breast cancer, even though there is no cure,” Lawson said. 

Black women in particular are disproportionately affected. While white women have the highest incidence rates, Black women have the highest death rates. Breast cancer is also more likely to be found at an earlier stage in white women than in Black women. 

“I had not heard of metastatic breast cancer prior to my mother falling ill with it, and I was not aware of the devastating impact it has on women of color, particularly African American/Blacks, and women who live in rural Iowa where health care is more of a challenge,” Lawson said.

She decided to do something about it. Lawson first reached out to her state representative with ideas to raise awareness about metastatic breast cancer and the effect it has on women of color and women in rural areas. 

Lawson worked with the Iowa Legislative Black Caucus and developed a house resolution for Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day, which was ultimately sidelined due to COVID-19. She then turned to Gov. Kim Reynolds, who signed a Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day proclamation on Oct. 1, declaring Oct. 13, 2020, as Metastatic Breast Cancer Awareness Day in Iowa. 

Lawson and Reps. Ruth Ann Gaines and Phyllis Thede recorded a video reading the proclamation, which was posted to the Susan G. Komen of Greater Iowa’s Facebook page. 

She hopes to continue working with the Iowa Legislative Black Caucus to make it an annual observance in the state. 

“We need to reduce, and hopefully negate, the impact of metastatic breast cancer, especially the disproportionate impact it is having on African American/Black women. The first step, it seems to me, is raising awareness of the illness. To that end, there is much yet to do.”

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]]> Evaluating HIV Testing Rates on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day https://www.mymedicplus.com/blog/evaluating-hiv-testing-rates-on-national-black-hiv-aids-awareness-day/ Sat, 08 Feb 2020 06:24:34 +0000 http://www.mymedicplus.com/news/?p=4496 The post Evaluating HIV Testing Rates on National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

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Today, February 7, 2020, is National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day. This day is commemorated each year to highlight the impact that HIV and AIDS has on the black or African American population in the United States.

According to statistics from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), in 2018, 13% of the US population was black, but 43% of all newly diagnosed HIV infections occurred in black individuals.

In a new article published in the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report authors detail findings on HIV testing outcomes among black individuals in the United States.

Ending the HIV epidemic is a US initiative with the goal of reducing new HIV infections by 90% from 2020 to 2030. The first phase of the initiative is focused upon reducing incidence in 50 jurisdictions which accounted for >50% of new diagnoses during 2016-17 and 7 states with disproportionate HIV prevalence in rural areas.

Specifically, the investigators used data from the CDC’s 2017 National HIV Prevention Program Monitoring and Evaluation program to look at testing outcomes in black individuals living in jurisdictions deemed high prevalence by the Ending the HIV Epidemic initiative.

“Factors such as stigma, comorbidities, and socioeconomic inequalities might increase blacks’ risk for acquiring or transmitting HIV and limit access to quality health care, housing and HIV prevention messaging,” the authors wrote.

As a result, delayed access to HIV prevention and treatment can lead to work HIV care outcomes including delays in linkage to care and viral suppression.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      In total, 1,954,741 CDC-funded HIV tests were conducted in phase-1 jurisdictions. Of the total tests, black individuals accounted for 43.2% of the tests, twice that of whites (21.6%) or Hispanics/Latinos (22.4%). Additionally, 49.1% (4007) of new HIV diagnoses occurred in black individuals.

Among individuals who received a new diagnosis, 79.2% were linked to care within 90 days, 71.4% were interviewed for partner services, and 81.8% were referred to HIV prevention services.

Although 79.2% of blacks with newly diagnosed HIV infection were linked to HIV medical care within 90 days, the percentage is below the 2010 National HIV/AIDS Strategy (NHAS) goal of 85%. Based on this, it may be difficult to achieve the 2020 NHAS goal of 85% linkage to care within 30 days of diagnosis and the initiative to reduce new HIV infections by 90% by 2030.

The investigators also note that by sub-population, the highest percentages of HIV tests conducted in the Ending the HIV Epidemic jurisdictions were among men who have sex with men (27.4%), a population that had the highest rates of HIV-positive results among the black subpopulation (3.3%).

More than 70% of MSM with newly diagnosed infections were linked to HIV medical care (80.6%), interviewed for partner services (71.3%), or referred to HIV prevention services (84.2%).

“To achieve the goals of [Ending the HIV Epidemic] HIV prevention programs should focus on locally tailored evidence-based testing strategies to enhance and overcome barriers for linkage to and retention in care and reduce onward HIV transmission and HIV-related disparities,” authors of the report wrote.

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