Sunday, February 7, 2021, is the annual observance of National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day (NBHAAD). The Strategic Leadership Council is the community group that sets the direction for NBHAAD. This year’s observance comes at a time of renewed concern and action for health equity and inclusion across the nation.

We’ve put together a list of resources from HIV.gov and our federal partners to help you get involved with NBHAAD and spread the word.

Where to Go

Our NBHAAD Awareness Day page has resources such as the NBHAAD logo, fact sheets, and other materials from the community and across the U.S. Government. We feature the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) NBHAAD digital toolkit and their Let’s Stop HIV Together campaign resources that you can use and share. We’ll also add registration details for some upcoming webinars hosted by the HHS Office of Infectious Disease and HIV/AIDS Policy (OIDP) and CDC that anyone can join.

We encourage you to stay tuned for the Strategic Leadership Council’s communications about this year’s observance. And be sure not to miss the Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America (EHE) initiative quarterly stakeholder webinar on January 27, which will provide updates on major federal activities related to EHE implementation and highlight ways to improve HIV diagnosis, care and prevention outcomes for Black women. Register here  to join.

What to Know

Given the disproportionate impact of HIV on Black communities, we encourage you to learn what’s happening with EHE implementation. This data-driven, locally-implemented effort continues its important work to reduce new HIV infections even as our nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic proceeds.

PrEP is an important HIV prevention tool and the Ready Set PrEP program may be right for you or eligible individuals with whom you work. Please share information about the HIV Services Locator, where individuals can find PrEP providers in their local area.

HIV self-testing is a key strategy to improve testing uptake and increase diagnoses, particularly in these times when face-to-face testing services have been disrupted. Find information about self-testing on HIV.gov. Please use and share the Locator to find testing services nearby. (Be sure to call ahead to inquire about the availability of self-testing.)

HIV treatment helps people with HIV stay healthy and live longer. There is also a major prevention benefit: people with HIV who take HIV medicine daily as prescribed and get and keep an undetectable viral load have effectively no risk of sexually transmitting HIV to an HIV-negative partner. Please share information about the importance of getting and staying on HIV treatment.

For more information, we provide basic HIV facts about HIV prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Know the facts and spread the word (along with your encouragement and support) with friends and family members who have not been tested for HIV, might be at risk, or are living with HIV.

How to Share

The hashtag for NBHAAD 2021 is #NBHAAD. Let your voice be heard by using the hashtag on your social media.

The following channels are part of the conversation, give them a follow, like or share:

• Facebook: HIVgov , CDC HIV , and Start Talking Stop HIV 
• Twitter: @HIVGov , @CDC_HIV/AIDS , @DrMerminCDC 
• Instagram: @HIVgov , @stophivtogether , @starttalkinghiv 

Find Out More

We’ll be posting content on our blog and on our social media channels throughout NBHAAD. Want to make sure you don’t miss out on the latest HIV resources, policies, and programs? Sign up to receive email updates.

The post How to Share the News about National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

Global solidarity and resilient HIV services

The global HIV epidemic is not over and may be accelerating during the  COVID-19 pandemic, with a devastating impact on communities and countries. In 2019, there were still 38 million people living with HIV infection. One in five people living with HIV were not aware of their infection and one in 3 people receiving HIV treatment experienced disruption to the supply of HIV treatments, testing and prevention services, especially children and adolescents. In 2019, 690 000 people died from HIV-related causes and 1.7 million people were newly infected, with nearly 2 in three (62%) of these new infections occurring among key populations and their partners.

Despite significant efforts, progress in scaling up HIV services was already stalling before the COVID-19 pandemic. Slowing progress means the world will be missing the “90-90-90” targets for 2020, which were to ensure that: 90% of people living with HIV are aware of their status; 90% of people diagnosed with HIV are receiving treatment; and 90% of all people receiving treatment have achieved viral suppression. Missing these intermediate targets will make it even more difficult o achieve the end of AIDS by 2030.

The breakdown in essential HIV services due to COVID-19 threatens lives. COVID makes it difficult and dangerous for frontline health workers to deliver continuous, high quality HIV services to everyone who needs them. Sickness and restricted movement make it difficult for people living with HIV to access services. Economic disruption caused by COVID can make HIV services unaffordable or unobtainable. And the pandemic may interfere with supply chains and service delivery. For example, as of July 2020, one third of people on HIV treatment had experienced drug stockouts or interruptions in supplies. Supply disruptions such as these are devastating; a WHO and UNAIDS modeling study showed that six-month disruption in access to HIV medicines could lead to a doubling in AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa in 2020 alone.

Now is the time for us to once again make a leap in our response to work together to end COVID-19 and get back on track to end HIV by 2030. On World AIDS Day 2020, WHO is calling on global leaders and citizens to rally for “global solidarity” to overcome the challenges posed by COVID-19 on the HIV response.  WHO has chosen to focus on “Global solidarity, resilient HIV services” as the WHO theme for World AIDS Day this year.

The key actions are:

1. Renew our fight to end HIV

   The global AIDS response has slowed down: it’s time now to invest, to innovate HIV services with broader health care and the pandemic response to get back on track to end HIV by 2030. Missing the global targets for HIV for 2020 should not be a setback but a renewed call to do better.

2. Use innovative HIV services to ensure continued HIV care.

   There are many new approaches countries are adopting to ensure HIV care during the pandemic. WHO has recommended multi-month prescriptions of HIV medicines to protect the health of people on HIV treatment and to reduce the burden on overburdened health services.

3. Engage and protect our nurses, midwives and community health workers

   We urge policymakers to ensure that frontline health workers, nurses, midwives and community health workers are engaged and protected when delivering services for HIV and COVID-19. 

4. Prioritize the vulnerable – youth and key populations
   We need to ensure that children, adolescents and members of key and vulnerable populations affected by HIV do not fall through the cracks of health care disruptions during COVID-19.  Key populations include people who use drugs, men who have sex with men, sex workers, transgender people and people in prisons that are disproportionately affected by HIV. 
   

Please join us for a webinar to celebrate World AIDS Day on 1 December 2020 from 13:00 to 14:30 Geneva time (Central European Time). The event will cover global efforts to ensure global solidarity and resilient HIV services, including during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The speakers will include:

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director General, World Health Organization (WHO)

Honourable Lizzy Nkosi, Minister of Health, The Kingdom of Eswatini

Mr Peter Sands, Executive Director, The Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Ms Winnie Byanyima, Executive Director, Joint United Nations Programme on HIV (UNAIDS)

Dr J.V.R. Prasada Rao, Former Secretary of Health, India and Former SG’s Envoy for AIDS in in Asia and the Pacific

Dr Ren Minghui, Assistant Director-General, Universal Health Coverage/Communicable and Noncommunicable Diseases, WHO

Dr Meg Doherty, Director, Global HIV, Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections Programmes, WHO

Ms Cindy Amaiza, National Coordinator, Y+ Kenya

Ms Sasha Volgina, Programme Manager, Global Network of People Living with HIV (GNP+)

Dr Adeeba Kamarulzaman, President, International AIDS Society (IAS)

Ms Erica Burton, Senior Advisor, International Council of Nurses (ICN)

Dr Alex Schneider, Founder, Life4me+

Mr Asghar Satti, National Coordinator, Association of People Living with HIV (APLHIV), Pakistan

The post World AIDS day 2020 appeared first on MyMedicPlus.

01/5 Here is the answer

People trying to lose weight are often worried about their carb intake. It is because carbs are infamously linked to weight gain. But it is also an essential macronutrient and shunning it completely is not right.

As far as the Indian diet is concerned, rice and chapatis are the greatest sources of carbs. Weight watchers often tread with caution when it comes to roti (made using wheat flour); this gives rise to the question – how many chapatis can be had in a day without sabotaging the weight loss goal.

02/5 ​Nutrients in wheat

Chapatis are not only made of carbs. But they are packed with other essential nutrients as well. Wheat is also considered a rich source of protein, fat, phosphorus, magnesium, folate and iron.

03/5 ​How many chapatis you can have in a day

Carbs, protein and fat are known as macronutrients, which means our body needs them in large quantities to carry out different functions in the body. First of all, you need to finalise your daily carb intake. On the basis of that you can decide how many chapatis you can have in a day.

A small 6-inch chapati contains around 71 calories. So, if your lunchtime calorie intake is 300 calories, you can have two chapatis that will be 140 calories and the remaining can come from vegetables and salad that you eat with the chapatis. Remember that not only chapatis, but even the vegetables and fruits you consume also contain some amount of carbs.

In short, how many wheat rotis can you consume in a day actually depends on your calorie intake. Having 4 chapatis in a day is considered optimal for weight loss.

04/5​ Other alternatives to wheat chapatis

If you are trying to lose weight, you can have chapatis made of barley, sorghum or millet. They are healthier than wheat and contain more nutrients and fewer carbohydrates.

05/5​ Other things to keep in mind

Only limiting your carb intake will not help you achieve your weight loss goal. There are other factors as well that play a crucial role in weight loss – like your lifestyle habits, sleeping pattern and exercise routine. For effective weight loss, it is important to take care of all these things and eat healthy and well-balanced meals.

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