Firstmed Blog

Low sperm count, erectile dysfunction, and catching an STD are some of the topics that spring to mind when considering men’s health.

This week, these topics and many more are to be openly discussed as part of Men’s Health Week (MHW) which runs from 11-17 June, perfectly timed to end on Father’s Day.

The purpose of Men’s Health Week (MHW) is to heighten the awareness of preventable health problems and encourage early detection and treatment of disease among men and boys.

MHW is recognised in Britain and in the United States, with events taking place around the country.

This year, the national AIDS trust is encouraging sexually-active men to understand HIV as a long-term health condition rather than a death sentence, once it is caught early.

Dr Nneka Nwokolo, consultant physician at the Victoria Clinic in the Chelsea and Westminster Healthcare NHS Trust, told The Voice that there remains a great deal of uncertainty about the basics of HIV.

She explained: “There is a lot of uncertainty around how HIV is transmitted. Aside from the methods of transmission we know about, a lot of people have concerns about transmitting it through social contact, sleeping in the same bed, using the same bath.”

She did admit that public understanding had increased somewhat, but more needed to be done.

“Condom use is quite contentious-not just for African men, or gay men, for some men in general. While the majority use condoms to preventpregnancy or catching an STD, many others won’t use them for various reasons, such as thinking it interferes with sexual pleasure, or they may feel that their partner might not be at risk, because they have a certain perception of their partner that may not be true.”

When it came to the black community, particularly the African contingent, there were other factors to be addressed.

Dr Nwokolo explained: “In the African community, one of the things embedded in condom use is the issue of trust. In most relationships, there comes a point where couples who started using condoms earlier on then decide not to use condoms anymore. However, if a women is worried that her partner might be havingsex with somebody else and says I want you to start using condoms, this raises an issue of ‘what is she thinking?’ for the man.”

She continued: “If the man feels good reason not to, it’s difficult for African women to insist on men using a condom. It is more of a cultural issue.”

She added that recent successes in tackling HIV meant more people were prepared to take risks.

“One of the perceptions about HIV now becoming a chronic condition, is that for a number of people, there is a feeling that if I do catch it, I can have medication and get better. I don’t think that’s a perception amongst Africans. It’s more of a perception amongst gay men. They are better exposed to anti-retrovirals and tend to know positive people.”

“For African people, more needs to be done to encourage people to test. One big barrier is the idea that they know somebody at home who sis HIV-positive and died because they didn’t have access to treatment. Their knowledge of HIV is based on the treatment of those in Africa who died. Then they come to this country and don’t know about available treatment.”

She added: “We must give the message that it is better to know that you are positive than not knowing. There are benefits to being tested.”
Source: The Voice