Category: Awareness

Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention

CONTENT WARNING: This blog discusses rape and other forms of sexual violence.   Over the past two years, the #MeToo movement has grown to bring sexual violence, abuse, and toxic behavior into the forefront of American culture, but there is still much misinformation and stigma to combat to ensure the health and safety of everyone affected. Rape is the most under-reported crime with only 36% of rapes, 34% of attempted rapes, and 26% of sexual assaults being reported. Despite misconceptions, the prevalence of false reporting is low — between 2-7%. The consequences of sexual assault reach far into the lives […]

LGBTQIA Health Needs and Disparities

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, intersex, and asexual (LGBTQIA) individuals are members of every community. They are diverse, come from all walks of life, and include people of all races and ethnicities, all ages, all socioeconomic statuses, and from all parts of the country. The healthcare needs of LGBTQIA people are sometimes unique and often overlooked, contributing to health disparities experienced by vulnerable populations.   Experts report that LGBTQIA people often avoid seeking out medical care or refrain from “coming out” to their healthcare provider. This compromises an entire community of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and intersex individuals who are […]

Transgender Awareness Week & Remembrance Day

Transgender Awareness Week falls between November 13-19 every year and is meant to help raise visibility of a vulnerable and underserved community.  ‘Transgender’ is an umbrella term for people whose gender identity is different from the sex assigned at birth; ‘gender identity’ is one’s innermost concept of self as male, female, a blend of both, or neither.   Transgender/gender non-conforming people experience gender dysphoria, a clinically significant distress recognized by the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM) caused by a person’s assigned birth gender differing from the one with which they identify. This leads to […]

Breast Cancer Awareness Month 2019

For more than 30 years, October has been National Breast Cancer Awareness Month in the U.S. Breast cancer is the second most common cancer among women, second only to skin cancer. With more than 240,000 women diagnosed each year, awareness can save lives through early detection and lowering risk.   The main risk factors of breast cancer include being a woman and being older, which means almost any woman can be diagnosed with no family history or other known risk factors. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends healthy living habits such as maintaining a healthy weight, regular […]

Talk About Your Medicines Month

October marks the BeMedWise Program at NeedyMeds’ 34th Talk About Your Medicines Month (TAYMM). This is an annual opportunity to focus attention on the value that enhanced provider-patient communication about medicines can play in promoting safe and appropriate medicine use and improved health outcomes. Communication is a two-way street: consumers benefit from being proactive in asking questions and seeking information about their medicines, and healthcare providers in turn must be able to share medical information in a meaningful way that their patients are able to understand and act on.   This year’s theme for TAYMM is Preventing Opioid Misuse and Abuse […]

About Us

Welcome to the NeedyMeds Voice! We look forward to presenting you with timely, provocative pieces on healthcare reform, patient advocacy, medication and healthcare access, and other health-related news. Our goals are to educate, enlighten, and elucidate; together, we will try to make sense of the myriad and ongoing healthcare-related changes in the U.S. today.