To be so upset over grown adults bullying this young woman

[lateas]

Has anyone else seen the photo circulating of the “health minister” of Wales?

First of all, this isn’t true. Her name is Athika Ahmed. She's a 23 year old medical student from Cardiff who's been a dedicated member of the Cardiff and Vale University Health Board's youth panel since she was 16. She helped develop new educational resources (launched in December 2025) for Welsh secondary schools on topics like menstrual health, endometriosis, pelvic health, and menopause. These aim to reduce stigma and help young people spot when to seek help. She's not an official 'Health Ambassador for women' appointed by the Welsh Government or NHS Wales in a senior role – that's a bit of an exaggeration. But her work is real, positive, and focused on improving health education, especially in communities where these topics can be taboo.

There are thousands of comments regarding her appearance. People mocking her, plenty of racism too. It’s sad that people are taking the piss of her appearance instead of focusing on her work. Not that that she should have to explain herself, but she has a tumour on her pituitary gland. This type of tumour interferes with hormones, causing conditions such as Cushing disease which has a direct impact on weight.

I’ve actually unfriended a couple of people on Facebook tonight. It’s bullying plain and simple. No wonder people kill themselves. There some bastards in this world.

I’ve never been a fan!

She is abhorrent

It's the same treatment Belgian politician Maggie De Block got, only she was actually her country's Health Minister while being morbidly obese.

The problem is, the people who are happy to make offensive statements about Athika Ahmed simply don't care that she isn't actually a health minister, or that she does important work. It's not important to them, they just need easy-to-understand concepts they can point at as evidence of the government being clueless or the world going 'woke', or whatever it is they're mad at that particular week. 'Fat Health Minister' is perfect for that.

I would never bully, but I would also never take dietary advice from someone morbidly obese. There are health conditions that can make living at a healthy weight hard, but dietary habits are what affects weight far more than anything else

She is not giving dietary advice. She is part of a panel who created educational resources about periods, endometriosis and pcos.

I think the media has positioned Athika in a really cruel way, it is horrible.

She is not, and has never, spoken about weight/exercise, her focus is specifically periods, pcos, endo etc. An important conversation for all women, but she has been a voice for a community where perhaps it is less spoken about.

I still stand by having a hard time taking health advice from someone morbidly obese. No question that she's brilliant, and no question that she's correct with what she says. But it's pretty hard to separate the her lack of healthy weight with the message she says. And that's wrong, but I'm not going to stop being skeptical.

She may have a condition that causes weight gain such as Endometriosis, PCOS, Cushings disease, hashimotos or other thyroid issues. This might be why she is so passionate about spreading the word.

I have endo and have been six stone overweight for over 20 years. I have finally lost it due to WLI but not everyone has that privilege.

She is not presenting herself as the perfect human but that doesn’t preclude her from encouraging girls to know when periods are not right and need to be investigated.

Your argument is narrow minded and fat phobic.

YANBU the comments I have seen have been utterly vile, and many from women too.

Op, please you don't need to respond to those who wish to take down the thread. Ignore the bullies and their fake nonsense about you controlling the thread. They just want to derail it. Ignore them, thank those who give useful information. Move on.

This thread is about a young woman who is receiving unfair treatment by the media. I hope her family and freinds are standing strongly by her.

Can’t help feeling that people in the public eye need to ignore or get a friend to screen their sm and only pick out any relevant ones.

I thought this with princess di when the tabloids went on about the cellulose on her legs in the 90s but no she responded by covering up when she could easily (with staff) ignore

It’s more baffling why you’re picking on OP when the thread is about racism to a brown Muslim woman.

What is your agenda?

No, it doesn’t need removing.

Why does every thread that exposes racism to Muslims and stands up for a Muslim wiman need deleting?

So the person attacking OP is fine to berate OP but OP responding with a very mild comment is unacceptable?

Talk about your own hypocrisy.

I mean, it was a pretty significant ‘mistake’ to be fair. The main criticism this woman is receiving is regarding her physical appearance, and you’ve said that this is due to an illness, ergo how can people be so awful when someone has a condition that they can’t help that’s affecting their appearance.

I wouldn't normally bother to engage with this but for the fact that you have got almost everything wrong.

1. The PP didn't berate the OP. They pointed out the factual errors and that it undermined the credibility of the OP, making them appear clueless
2. The OP responded and acknowledged their mistake but couldn't resist attacking the character of the PP. It may have been mild in terms of the words used, but it was unnecessary and a personal attack on the person, not on their post.
3. I pointed out that some might consider that bullying - i just thought it petulant - which was pertinent to a thread about how people treat each other. I never said it was unacceptable.
4. The OP and I unpacked her post and I explained how her writing came across to me.
5. OP, as she has every right to do, chose not to continue further, preferring to only engage with people who agreed with the premise of the thread. She neither acknowledged or refuted whether her response had been reasonable.

But I'm sure we're both grateful for your efforts to police our discussion.