Memories of My Bad Ass Grandma and The US Reproductive Rights Debate

Emotional scenes in movies have often driven me to tears. This is not easy for me to admit. I still remember 12 year old me hiding behind a door and crying at my dads funeral. My mums death hit me liRead More…

On the HPV Vaccine Debate; What I Learned About Sexual Risk from a Colleague in Medical School, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

Anytime I hear any debate on the HPV vaccine Gardasil, I remember a fact that most of us tend to forget.  This simple piece of common sense was brought to my attention by a classmate in a class Read More…

Addressing the Risk of Anal Cancer in Baltimore City, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

On the first approach by our division chief to work on a project to develop an anal cancer screening program I must admit I was a skeptic. Like most physicians I believed high resolution anoscopies weRead More…

Preventing cervical cancer in Ghana: Education should be geared towards solving problems of the society, By Dr. Kofi Effah 

January is being celebrated in Ghana as cervical cancer awareness month. This is laudable considering the fact that cervical cancer, a very preventable disease, kills many Ghanaian women. It is greatRead More…

Should We Be Doing Virginity Checks?

I spent all of Friday making the video below after hearing rapper T.I. say he had accompanied his daughter now 18 years on each birthday to a gynecologist to check if she is still a virgin. I have heRead More…

Can we allow women to control their own bodies? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

The examination room gets cleaned at least 3 times a day however the ever pungent smell of blood appears to defy all the efforts of our ever zealous cleaning staff. The smell was strong and overpoweriRead More…

Is Religion Driving Health Policy in The US? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

This summer, on August 19th 2019 the Planned Parenthood Federation of America made a decision to withdraw from Title X funding. This program which is older than most of us was enacted by President RicRead More…

Is it Really Un-African? By Dr. Nana Dadzie Ghansah

Remarks the President of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, made during an interview on Al-Jazeera recently on the lack of gay rights in Ghana, has set the whole country into a frenzied discussion abRead More…

Healing from prejudice, discrimination and abuse of all kinds, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

In a previous post I wrote about my evolving experience with the LGBTQ community. Whilst being a black man from Africa did help me understand what it may feel like to be gay or queer, it was also a grRead More…

Is your Hypertension medication causing you problems in the bedroom? By Dr. Leonard Sowah

Doc, is this medication going to make me have problems with erection? I have heard this question so often from men concerned about getting on blood pressure medications that I have learned to respect Read More…

It’s not all about sex and drug use, it’s just life !!

It is not the drug addicts fault that he or she needs to get a fix to just feel normal. Nor is it the fault of a young man that he has gonorrhea. And then what about that guy who gets shot in the belRead More…

Breast play and breast cancer risk, By Dr. Leonard Sowah

In the past few weeks there has been a lot of interest on the breast as different organizations advance various initiatives to help reduce risk of Breast Cancer in Ghana. These activities attracted aRead More…

Generic Truvada; why is it still not available on the US market?

In the US most patients who require PrEP (HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) get coverage for Truvada by their insurance companies. Patients with medicaid coverage have copays ranging from $3 – 25, howeverRead More…

Love, Sex and Life with HIV

She was a model patient in many ways, never missed any appointments, and had done very well health wise. Yes, she had gained a few generous pounds over the years that I had known her but in other waysRead More…

Are you talking to your elderly patients about their sex lives?

He was referred to me by a colleague with a large geriatric practice for evaluation and treatment for HIV. He was 76 years old and lived in an assisted living facility. He was, however, very independRead More…

Difficult conversations – Talking about sex with your doctor

I recently read a book by Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz a UCLA cardiologist who also happens to be a consultant for the Los Angeles Zoo. In her book ‘Zoobiquity’ Dr. Natterson-Horowitz demystifiRead More…