Press Release - 1st December 2006 - World AIDS Day

"Irish Charities working with Government to keep the promise on HIV and AIDS"

Today, a unique partnership of people living with HIV, frontline health workers and NGOs marked World AIDS Day by presenting their plans to challenge HIV-related stigma and discrimination in a year-long education and awareness campaign.

The Stamp Out Stigma campaign aims to alert the Irish public to the many ways in which unfounded fears about HIV infection lead to countless instances where HIV-positive people are discriminated against and excluded.

The initiative follows a major speech by An Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, at a special session of the UN General Assembly on HIV and AIDS in June 2006, in which he called for steps to make our societies more open, caring, inclusive and non-judgemental as a step towards tackling the HIV pandemic.

The Stamp Out Stigma campaign is funded by the government and organised by the Multi-Stakeholder Forum, an umbrella grouping of domestic agencies and overseas aid organisations, people living with HIV and frontline health workers.

"In Ireland, and across the world, there continue to be high levels of fear and stigma associated with being HIV-positive.  These fears, and the discrimination against people living with HIV, pose real problems.  Ignorance of the causes and consequences of HIV infection stand in the way of efforts to effectively reduce it," said Ann Nolan, Executive Director of the Dublin AIDS Alliance.

"In the context of the national debate surrounding disclosure and notification of HIV, it is crucial that we create an environment in which HIV+ people can disclose their status withour fear of rejection, prejudice or discrimination."

A range of actions will include a nationwide media awareness campaign to promote an improved understanding of HIV and AIDS, and interventions to alert employers, service providers, educational institutions, housing and primary health care providers to the fact that it is illegal to discriminate on the basis of HIV status.

Other activities will involve supporting employers and other organisations to develop HIV and AIDS policies with NGOs to challenge direct and indirect discrimination.

"We find that in recent years, many countries have relaxed their efforts to prevent the spread of AIDS, as they assume that people have heard the message of how to protect themselves from infection", said Hans Zomer, Director of Dochas, the umbrella association of 38 aid agencies.  "In reality, ignorance, fear and stigma continue to thrive and prevention messages are not reaching those most at risk.  This applies both at home and in developing countries."

Press Release - 14th June 2006

Dublin AIDS Alliance response to latest HIV figures in advance of Irish AIDS Day

Figures released today in advance of Irish AIDS Day (Thursday, 15th June) by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show a 10.7% decrease in the number of people testing HIV positive in 2005 when compared with the previous year.

Commenting on the latest figures, Ann Nolan, Executive Director of Dublin AIDS Alliance, said that "this is the second consecutive year in which we have seen a decrease in the number of people testing HIV positive and that is very welcome.  However, the downward trend should be interpreted with caution as the decrease is probably as a result of decreased migration inwards from areas of the world where HIV is endemic.  We cannot afford to sit back and convince ourselves that we have turned the tide of HIV in Ireland."

Heterosexual transmission of HIV has been the most dominant mode of transmission in Ireland for some years now.  There were 159 cases of heterosexually acquired HIV reported in 2005 compared to 178 in 2004 and 223 in 2003.

However, heterosexual transmission of HIV has been rising among Irish born nationals from 12 reported cases in 2001 compared to 35 cases in 2004 and 32 cases in 2005.  This reflects a wider European trend.

"The number of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) reported in Ireland is increasing annually to the extent that a 313% increase has been recorded in the decade between 1994 and 2004.  STI increases coupled with changing patterns of sexual behaviour may signal a future increase in HIV," Nolan said, "even though the number of sexually acquired HIV cases among Irish born nationals represent a small percentage of the overall total, there is clearly no room for complacency but a pressing need for Government to act to improve sexual health outcomes for everybody."

"Furthermore, we need to intensify prevention efforts as highlighted at the recent high level meeting on HIV/AIDS at the United Nations in New York," at which Ann Nolan represented the NGO sector working in HIV in Ireland on the Irish delegation.

Article 22 of the Political Declaration signed by all member states, including Ireland, reaffirms that prevention of HIV infection must be the mainstay of the national response and that we must intensify efforts to ensure that a wide range of programmes that are culturally and linguistically appropriate are resourced to enable a reduction in risk behaviours.

"Ireland has a significant way to go before the goals of Article 22 are realised" she said, "An Taoiseach's commitment to HIV/AIDS as demonstrated by his attendance at the recent United Nations special session on HIV/AIDS in New York is both welcome and encouraging.  Dublin AIDS Alliance commends his prioritisation of HIV/AIDS at domestic and international level and has every confidence that he will work to ensure that prevention efforts are intensified both at home and abroad."

Article 22 further recommends enabling expanded access to harm reduction efforts including sterile injecting equipment and early and effective treatment of sexually transmitted infections.

Commenting on reported decreases in the number of people who inject drugs testing positive for HIV in 2005, from 71 cases in 2004 to 66 cases in 2005, Ann Nolan said that "it is too early to speak of a downward trend when just tow years ago 49 cases of HIV were reported among IDUs suggesting that interventions were proving successful.  However, changing patterns of drug use, including multi-drug use, may be contributing to renewed increases in HIV transmission, and it is vital that we heed the recommendations of the Mid-term Review of the National Drugs Strategy 2005, and increase access to needle exchange facilities including out-of-hours and weekend services."

She welcome a further decrease in the number of men-who-have-sex-with-men (MSM) testing positive for HIV stating that "we have much to learn from the grass-roots approach to HIV prevention that has proved so successful in the Gay community in Ireland.  Prevention efforts need to continue to be resourced as research has shown a resurgence in risk sexual behaviour among this group."