HIV and AIDS have long had a disproportionate impact on the Black community. In recognition of that stark reality, the U.S. government marked February 7 as National Black HIV/AIDS Awareness Day.
Cheddar News anchor Shannon LaNier spoke with Jessica Shepherd, the chief medical officer at Verywell, a health information website, about the disease's continued impact on Black people, who she said are eight times more likely to be diagnosed than white people.
The challenge in addressing this inequality is stigma, which has historically discouraged people from seeking care.
Shepherd explained that better health care options have helped lift some of that stigma, but it remains an issue for certain disadvantaged groups.
Overcoming the disease's connection with sexual intercourse is another way to help people become more open about the disease and seek the proper care, she added.
"When you think of something that's sexually transmitted, even though you do have [intravenous drug] transmission, you think of something that is bad," she said. "So the person gets a bad label no matter how they acquire the disease."
Better health care in general has helped combat this perception, as HIV/AIDS is no longer a death sentence but rather something people can live with. "You see people well into their sixth or seventh decade having HIV and living very healthy lives," she said.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved selling overdose antidote naloxone over-the-counter, marking the first time a opioid treatment drug will be available without a prescription.
Millions of Americans could lose access to Medicaid on April 1, and Joe Dunn, senior vice president of public policy at the National Association of Community Health Centers, joined Cheddar News' anchor Shannon LaNier to discuss what this means for public health.
One third of Americans don't have access to primary care providers in their communities, according to a study from the National Association of Community Health Centers published last month.
Neuralink, Elon Musk's brain implant venture, is reaching out to major U.S. neurosurgery centers to potentially begin testing its devices on humans, according to a Reuters report.
A Minnesota utility began shutting down a nuclear power plant near Minneapolis on Friday after discovering water containing a low level of radioactive material was leaking from a pipe for the second time. While the utility and health officials say it is not dangerous, the issue has prompted concerns among nearby residents and raised questions about aging pipelines.
