Tag Archives: lesbian health

Ivory Coast: help Akissi to access cancer tratment

Akissi is a lesbian from Ivory Coast in West Africa, living in Abidjan. She has been diagnosed with rectal cancer and has been able to undergo chemotherapy and one surgery, but she needs a second surgery to fully recover. Medical treatment in Ivory Coast is expensive. Akissi’s surgery costs 3 million CFA francs, or around CA$7,000 (around AU$7630, or 4,690€). Akissi has managed to raise part of the funds, but is still CA$5,000 short of the full cost of the operation. Because she is a lesbian, she is estranged from her family and does not have any support to help raise the additional funds.

Akissi est une lesbienne originaire de Côte d’Ivoire, en Afrique de l’Ouest, qui vit à Abidjan. Elle a été diagnostiquée avec un cancer du rectum et elle a pu suivre une chimiothérapie et subir une intervention chirurgicale, mais elle a besoin d’une seconde opération pour être complètement rétablie. Les traitements médicaux en Côte d’Ivoire sont coûteux. L’opération d’Akissi coûte 3 millions de francs CFA, soit environ CA$7000 dollars canadiens (environ AU$7630 dollars australiens, ou 4 690€). Akissi a réussi à réunir une partie des fonds, mais il lui manque l’équivalent de CA$5000 dollars canadiens pour pouvoir payer le prix de l’opération. Parce qu’elle est lesbienne, elle n’a plus de contact avec sa famille et elle n’a pas de soutien pour réunir le reste de l’argent.

Continue reading, donate and/or share: https://chuffed.org/project/123799-help-akissi-get-life-saving-surgery

Lesbians ‘told they did not need cervical screening‘

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Women who have sex with women are often wrongly told they do not need a cervical screening test, say LGBT groups.

This results in half of all eligible lesbian and bisexual women never having had a smear test, they said.

The human papilloma virus (HPV), which causes most cervical cancers, can be transmitted through lesbian sex.

Cervical cancer charities say all women, no matter their orientation, should have regular cervical screening.

LGBT groups say women regularly face barriers to accessing healthcare and can have poor experiences when they do.

The charity Jo‘s Cervical Cancer Trust says all women, regardless of their sexual orientation, should have regular cervical screening.

“As HPV can be transmitted through skin-to-skin in the genital area, gay women [sic] are equally at risk of contracting HPV and experiencing abnormal cervical changes and, thus, should always attend when invited for cervical screening.”

In a study of attitudes to cervical screening among gay [sic] and bisexual women in the north-west of England, carried out by the University of Salford in 2011, 37% of women questioned said they had been told they did not require a cervical screening test because of their sexual orientation.

Continue reading: https://stockdailydish.com/lesbians-told-they-did-not-need-cervical-screening/ (source)

 

Sacramento, US: man blankets street with lesbophobic flyers

Image courtesy of Sarah Ward

 

A man sparked outrage after blanketing a street with flyers that falsely claim lesbian sex causes cancer.

The man refused to speak when confronted by homeowners in the West Sacramento neighborhood about his leaflet, titled ‘The key to the mystery of estrogen and cancer.’

Continue reading at: https://metro.co.uk/2018/07/05/man-blankets-street-vile-flyers-claiming-lesbian-sex-causes-cancer-7687338/  (source)

Canada: Lesbian seniors talk about isolation, safe housing concerns at Winnipeg summit

Roberta Bishop Winnipeg

Roberta Bishop says more talk with health-care providers is needed to ensure LGBT seniors have better experiences in personal care homes, for example. (Trevor Brine/CBC)

Bishop recalled the story of a woman who lost her spouse of 25 years.

The woman didn’t tell her friends in her knitting group that her partner was a female until the shooting at Pulse nightclub happened in Orlando in 2016, Bishop said.

“There’s an assumption that if you get old and you’re widowed, then you’ve lost a man,” Bishop said, explaining why the woman didn’t reveal her partner’s identity sooner.

Continue reading at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/finding-rainbows-summit-winnipeg-1.4391413 (Source)

Manitoba lesbians report homophobia in health-care system, study says

L2L Canada

“Many people talked about how health-care practitioners would not look them in the eye, seemed flustered by them or just generally communicated through body language that they were uncomfortable,” McPhail said.

Continue reading at: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/lgbt-lesbian-queer-trans-manitoba-winnipeg-health-care-1.3445825 (Source)

‘I Was Fighting Breast Cancer as an Underinsured Woman (and lesbian), and I Couldn’t Get the Care I Needed to Live’

Once she was diagnosed, Tripplett, a real estate agent, says she and her girlfriend called medical offices endlessly, trying to find the right words to say in order to get her the help she needed. When she heard, “We don’t take your insurance,” she’d say, “I’m sure somebody else there does.” When she heard, “Your girlfriend can’t come in the room,” she’d say, “Oh, good thing she’s my best friend, so now she can come in.

Continue reading at: ‘I Was Fighting Breast Cancer as an Underinsured Woman, and I Couldn’t Get the Care I Needed to Live’ | Glamour (Source)