A recent White House meeting focused on the HIV stigma and other LGBT-related health concerns. | Courtesy of Shutterstock
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Amanda Rupp | Apr 5, 2016

White House meeting discusses HIV stigma, LGBT health concerns

Health professionals recently held a White House meeting to discuss stigmas of HIV/AIDS infections, health concerns facing lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) health, and proactive social media training that could help resolve issues facing these populations.

Last month featured LGBT Health Awareness Week, which encouraged health professionals to look at the disparities facing these individuals.

This year is the 35th anniversary of doctors first reporting HIV/AIDS cases. Today, there are much more effective tools that health experts can use to prevent the infections, detect them and provide care for people who have HIV infections throughout their lives.

The White House Meeting on HIV Stigma: Research for a Robust Response was designed to address these issues. Unfortunately, one of the most effective tools can be wrongly influenced because of stigma and discrimination against HIV/AIDS cases and patients.

President Barack Obama, his administration and the U.S. Congress passed the Affordable Care Act so that more Americans could gain access to affordable but high-quality health care. This progress has helped many HIV/AIDS patients in the U.S., even though there is still much that needs to be done to help everyone gain access to health care.

Another important step is conducting personalized social media training. This will help people learn how to prevent and counteract the stigma that can come from family, friends, law enforcement, health care providers and communities.

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