Hey there Guys,

Today I wanted to share a video that I have created to help teach people how you can save a life if someone is having a severe allergic reaction.

To reinforce the main points of the video:

To reinforce the main points of the video:

If this person has an Epi-Pen™, follow along with this info graphic from Allergy Australia:

May 19 is National Hepatitis Testing Day. Roughly 25% of people living with HIV are also living with Hep C (and 80% of these people are injection drug users). Did you know we offer Hep C testing through our Syringe Access program?

San Francisco AIDS Foundation has provided street-based syringe access services to injecting drug users (IDUs) since 1993.

The syringe access program currently has 11 sites a week and is one of the nation’s largest programs, providing more than 2.3 million clean syringes a year.  The program is driven by more than 80 volunteers.

Not only does the syringe access program provide safer injection supplies, it also offers community-based services such as HIV testing, drug treatment referrals and medical care.

Looking for syringe access sites?

See the schedule

Interested in volunteering?

Read more, or just go to our online registration form and tell us about yourself!

Want or need other information?

Check the Frequently Asked Questions page, call (415) 241-5100 or email us at hpp@sfaf.org.

WASHINGTON — A pill that has long been used to treat HIV has moved one step closer to becoming the first drug approved to prevent healthy people from becoming infected with the virus that causes AIDS.

The Food and Drug Administration said Tuesday that Gilead Sciences’ Truvada appears to be safe and effective for HIV prevention. It concluded that taking the pill daily could spare patients “infection with a serious and life-threatening illness that requires lifelong treatment.”

On Thursday a panel of FDA advisers will consider the review when it votes on whether Truvada should be approved as a preventative treatment for people who are at high risk of contracting HIV through sexual intercourse. The FDA is not required to follow the advice of its panels, but it usually does.

An estimated 1.2 million Americans have HIV, which attacks the immune system and, unless treated with antiviral drugs, develops into AIDS, a fatal condition in which the body cannot fight off infections. If Truvada is approved, it would be a major breakthrough in the 30-year campaign against the AIDS epidemic. There have been no other drugs proven to prevent HIV and a vaccine is believed to be decades away.

Gilead Sciences Inc., based in Foster City, Calif., has marketed Truvada since 2004 as a treatment for people who are infected with the virus. The medication is a combination of two older HIV drugs, Emtriva and Viread. Doctors usually prescribe the medications as part of a drug cocktail that makes it harder for the virus to reproduce. Patients with low viral levels have reduced symptoms and are far less likely to develop AIDS. MORE

Junior Seau’s suicide has sparked an incredible amount of debate about the mental health ramifications of being a long term football player. Gary Plummer, Seau’s former teammate, had this to say on the matter:

They said a Grade 3 concussion meant you were knocked out, and a Grade 1 meant you were seeing stars after a hit, which made me burst out in laughter. As a middle linebacker in the NFL, if you don’t have five of these [Grade 1 effects] each game, you were inactive the next game. Junior played for 20 years. That’s five concussions a game, easily. How many in his career then? That’s over 1,500 concussions. I know that’s startling, but I know it’s true. I had over 1,000 in my 15 years. I felt the effects of it. I felt depression going on throughout my divorce. Junior went through it with his divorce.

As noted the other day, Seau’s family has agreed to allow his brain to be studiedto a find link between repetitive brain injuries and depression. Via 

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When it comes to laughter yoga, faking it ‘til you make it is just fine.

At least, that’s what Vishwa Prakash said at the start of the session that HuffPost’s health news editor Amanda Chan and I wandered into recently.

It was one of a few guidelines Prakash offered, as well as keeping our eyes locked on our fellow attendees, some 20 men and women dressed in street clothes and standing in a circle in his textile design company’s midtown Manhattan offices.

And with that, we were off.

Prakash traded with other leaders who led us through several “exercises” — we clapped, we milked imaginary cows, we blew up imaginary balloons, threw them on the ground, and exploded into laughter as we popped them with our feet. In between each set, we walked around clapping and chanting, “Ho Ho Ha Ha Ha!”

“It’s bizarre, it’s plain weird. Adults do not behave this way,” said Sebastien Gendry, who founded the American School of Laughter Yoga, the country’s largest laughter yoga training program.

“You laugh, you clap and you breathe,” he continued. (You also drive imaginary bumper cars, pretend to be lions and hug perfect strangers.) “Suddenly you find yourself really laughing and you don’t know why. It’s fun, and you feel good.”

The goal of laughter yoga is to breathe and to laugh, not because anyone has cracked a joke, but because laughter is a playful, social, contagious thing. The “yoga” label is a bit of a misnomer. There are no downward dogs or inversions, just people coming together, usually for free, for a short session of laughter. And it has become something of a global phenomenon. MORE

As part of our Men’s Health Series ( http://insidefirst.me/) Accidental Bear’s Mike Enders visits with Medical Esthetician Brandon Doyle at 360 Skin in San Francisco. Overall skin care needs and Brandon’s specialties. Brandon’s passion and knowledge for men’s skin clear is in abundance. Check out our fun videos below  where we chat about general skin care needs, chemical peels, sun damage, Male Brazilian Waxing and much more.

Brandon Doyle is the founder of 360 Skin, a certified medical esthetics practice for advanced skin care located in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. Brandon specializes in the unique needs of professional men with the expressed goal of solving your skin care issues and maintaining your skin’s health and appearance.

Brandon has received his post-graduate esthetic training from the top educators and practitioners in the esthetics field. He continues his education through annual conferences and coursework to ensure his clients are given the most cutting edge treatments.

The utilization of non-invasive cosmetic procedures, nutrition, and a keen, discerning eye all allow him to rectify the aging process with natural appearing results. Ultimately, it is Brandon’s straightforward, genuine demeanor, knowledge, and skill that make him one of San Francisco’s top aesthetic practitioners.

www.360skin.com

Find Brandon on FACEBOOK

The Playa Case, protection for your dong and your iPhone. The latest product from the guys that brought you the Opena Case! http://openacase.com. And a friendly reminder guys, condoms have expiration dates on them, be sure to check. We love your willy as much as you do.

Below are three sample of playful undies to guy you and have your fingers do the walking to better health.

Note: the language is a little clunky because the ads are translated for publicity purposes.

Ad agency: Y&R Peru.

About The Rainbow Project

The Rainbow Project is a health organisation that works to improve the physical, mental & emotional health of gay, bisexual and non-heterosexual men in Northern Ireland.

We are the largest gay organisation in Northern Ireland and have two centres: one in Belfast city centre and the other in Foyle, L’Derry.

History

The Rainbow Project was established in 1994 by a group of volunteers who were concerned about the spread of HIV within the gay male population of Northern Ireland.

These volunteers wanted to provide information and support to men who have sex with men (MSM) ahout HIV and AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome).  They carried out research within the gay and bisexual communities in order to find out what type of information and support services were required.

As a result of this research, the project began to offer information on HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted infections (STIs), distributing safer sex materials and leaflets at commercial gay venues and LGBT events.

Although our initial work was focused on HIV and STI prevention, it became clear that our service-users had additional support needs related to their physical health generally as well as mental & emotional well-being.  As such, The Rainbow Project was able to offer professional counselling services to gay/bisexual men, and those unsure of their sexual orientation, as well as providing practical interventions in the form of advocacy support for those men who had been discriminated against or been verbally, physically, and/or sexually assaulted because of their sexual orientation.

Today, The Rainbow Project is still committed to the prevention of HIV and STI transmission among men who have sex with men, however, we are also committed to addressing the physical, mental & emotional health needs of gay and bisexual men.  We do this by providing a number of services, facilitated by 11 full-time members of staff, under the direction of a volunteer-led Board of Trustees.  We continue to have a strong volunteering ethos and seek to create opportunities for gay/bisexual men to contribute to our overall organisational aims and objectives.

Objectives

• Provide dedicated one-to-one support, personal development groups and co-cultural counselling services to gay and bisexual men and those unsure of their sexual orientation;
• Provide safe community spaces for gay and bisexual men to meet;
• Provide specialised health promotion services aimed at reducing existing health inequalities experienced by gay and bisexual men and men-who-have-sex-with-men;
• Provide 3rd party hate crime reporting and advocacy services for gay and bisexual men;
• Support gay and bisexual men and their parents and/or families on issues around sexual orientation and coming out;
• Carry out social research into health issues affecting same-sex attracted people in general with an emphasis on those issues disproportionally affecting gay and bisexual men;
• Carry out social policy development and lobbying on issues affecting same-sex attracted people as well as contributing to cross-sectoral partnership working;
• Provide information, guidance and training to health and other professionals on minority sexual orientation awareness and the impact of homophobia and heterosexism on health and access to mainstream health service provision;
• Carry out activities that increase understanding of same-sex attraction and promote good relations between people of different sexual orientations within NI society.

Health & Well-Being

The Rainbow Project (TRP) uses the Social Model of Health in its approach to addressing the health inequalities experienced by gay and bisexual men in Northern Ireland. This model emphasises the impact that factors in the environment can have on the health of individuals. In line with this model TRP considers that the main health inequalities experienced by gay and bisexual men are the result of heterosexism* and homophobia in both society and mainstream health promotion &service delivery.

Rainbow therefore delivers services to individual gay and bisexual men where mainstream health services are not accessible or suitable. It also lobbies for a better understanding of the health needs of same-sex attracted people and promotes good relations between people of different sexual orientations.

*Heterosexism refers to the assumption of heterosexuality and the resulting invisibilityof gay, lesbian and bisexual people and their needs in society as well as in social policy and statutory/voluntary service provision.