It is very important to recognize the trends in HIV/AIDS in specific areas such as Asia because it is vital to understanding the effectiveness of current approaches towards diagnosis and treatment. It is also very important to understand the risk factors that greatly predispose people in Asia to contracting HIV/AIDS such as lifestyle, culture, and religion. This review extensively analyzes the current trends of HIV/AIDS in India, China, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. Additionally, cultural diversity carries certain social and religious stigmas associated with the disease. These social stigmas also pose as a significant influence on government involvement with regards to the funding of HIV/AIDS awareness, education, prevention, and the protection of human rights. Lack of education about the methods that help people from the disease and mode of transmission remains a significant hindrance in the prevention of a further rise in epidemiological statistics. Moreover, these factors are attributed to the rising incidence or risk of HIV within several populations amongst these countries. This review also analyzes the clinical presentation, epidemiological statistics, and the financial and socioeconomic impacts of HIV/AIDS in India, China, Thailand, Cambodia and Indonesia. Financial burdens and lack of government infrastructure in the healthcare systems are largely responsible for the rapidly rising prevalence of the disease among these populations, along with the inaccessibility to prevention and treatment methods. Furthermore, the scarcity of available antiretroviral and preventative medications is discussed. Lastly, this review explores various methods of diagnosis, treatment and prevention plans that are implemented in modern medicine with respect to HIV/AIDS.South East Asia Journal of Public Health Vol.7(2) 2017: 3-11

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Vitamin D has been reported in the scientific press as a crucial factor that has significant health benefits in the prevention and treatment of countless chronic illnesses, including mental health. Psychiatric illnesses are in their own right a complex constellation of factors that shape an individual’s mental health. Vitamin D is critical not only for bone health but also for suitable brain development and functioning. Most individuals worldwide have insufficient levels of vitamin D. Not only are adults affected, but adolescents are also predisposed to this deficiency. This is also true for individuals with mental health disorders. Low levels of vitamin D are directly correlated with depression, schizophrenia, seasonal affective disorder, and cognitive dysfunction. Adolescents were studied to investigate the relationship between low levels of vitamin D concentrations and mental health conditions, including psychosis, and to report on the current knowledge about the assessment and treatment of vitamin D deficiency in relation to mental health.

The age of technology and smart devices has paved the way for a current and encouraging method to address mental healthcare that benefits from global connectivity: telehealth. According to the American Telemedicine Association, telehealth or telemedicine is defined as the usage of medical information from one site to another through electronic communication with the goal of improving a client’s overall health through emails, cellular phones, two-way videos, and conference calls.  With the current Covid-19 pandemic, hospitals (especially those with mental health units or free-standing psychiatry facilities) are seldomly able to keep up with the influx of mental health patients without being turned away or having to wait for an extended period of time. Through telemedicine, those barriers have been lifted providing more efficient and enhanced access to care for everyone, especially those seeking mental health services. This review paper attempts to establish that despite the observations that telehealth has a positive impact on improved access to mental healthcare, it has not flourished to the extent it could have prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. We also try to provide long-term telehealth solutions, some of which are already being implemented in the current pandemic to improve the quality of mental healthcare access to a larger majority of Americans and those in other countries as well.  With people being advised to stay-at-home coupled with the fear of cross-contamination in public places, people are resorting to telehealth for psychiatric visits and follow-ups. Before this pandemic, however, certain laws and rules have been a barrier to more telehealth options becoming available or feasible to the public. Telehealth is changing the conventional standard of psychiatric medicine by enhancing access to care, reducing re-admission rates, and enhancing the quality of life. Those that have tested positive for the COVID-19 virus and are quarantined at home can still meet with their mental healthcare provider periodically to discuss progress and prognosis. Research has shown that telemedicine has neutralized the impacts of delayed care, hospital admissions, and complications from psychiatric conditions globally. Telehealth has proven to provide steady benefits to patients, psychiatrists, and mental health providers through round-the-clock access remotely.

The Alice in Wonderland Syndrome (AIWS) is a rare neurological and psychiatric condition, represented as the appearance of disorienting perceptual disorder with occasional episodes of bizarre visual illusions and spatial distortions. It was first introduced by John Todd in 1955, based on the literary chronicles of the strange encounters described by Lewis Carroll in Alice in Wonderland books. A 30-year-old healthy male presented to the doctor’s office with left-sided headaches lasting 24 hours and preceded by an aura. During these auras, the patient was experiencing erratic behaviors consistent with the phenomena experienced by Alice, the main character in the world-famous story. He reported objects being larger and further away than they really were and his hands appearing smaller than they really were. Symptoms lasted up to 45 minutes. All clinical and diagnostic workups and evaluations were unremarkable, and the patient was treated for migraines with auras using Valproic Acid. During his follow-up at 3 months intervals, the patient continued with symptoms, and his medication dosage was increased. In his next follow-up three months later, he described having no more symptoms. AIWS has been found to be related to migraines with preceding auras.  It is both common in pediatrics as well as in adults. I present an AIWS case co-existent with aura migraines.