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THERE NEEDS TO be a rethink around HIV prevention for gay and bisexual men, says GLEN, the Gay and Lesbian Equality Network.
Speaking ahead of a meeting of the Committee on Health and Children today that will be focusing on advances in testing opportunities for HIV and enhancing engagement with health services, Tiernan Brady, Director of Gay HIV Strategies (GHS) with GLEN said that a new strategic approach to HIV in Ireland needs to be established.
Goals
The goal of zero new cases of HIV and zero discrimination against people living with HIV needs to be a priority, said Brady, adding:
It is clear from the latest figures that HIV is an issue of critical concern for gay and bisexual men. The figures for 2014 show that gay and bisexual men are the group most likely to acquire HIV in Ireland.
Figures released by the HSE’s Health Protection Surveillance Centre (HPSC) show that there were 205 newly diagnosed cases of HIV in Ireland in the first 6 months of 2014. Of these, 94 new diagnoses were gay and bisexual men, up from 82 cases for the same period in 2013.
New cases
Gay and bisexual men under the age of 35 now make up 6 out of every 10 new cases of HIV.
Between 2005 and 2013 there has been a four‐fold increase in the number of new diagnoses among those aged between 25‐34 years.
The average age of HIV diagnosis for gay and bisexual men has fallen to 32 years from 37 years in 2005.
“There is a need for a rethink in our approaches. Our strategic goals must be zero new cases of HIV and zero discrimination against people living with HIV” continued Brady, adding:
A new programme with clear goals and targets, properly resourced, will need to increase the number and variety of testing opportunities targeting gay and bisexual men. Early diagnosis can significantly improve a person’s long term health outcomes. It can also be a significant factor in reducing onward transmission of HIV to others as the majority of new cases are passed on by people who do not know they are HIV positive.
Speaking ahead of today’s meeting, Committee Chairman Jerry Buttimer said that with World AIDS Day taking place next Monday, it timely to focus on a number of HIV issues, in particular advances in testing opportunities for HIV and enhancing engagement with health services.
“HIV is a preventable and treatable condition, so it is important that we encourage and help people to be proactive about looking after their sexual health and to engage with health services. Great strides have been made in testing technologies and early diagnosis is crucial in improving the long-term health outcomes for people and preventing further transmission of HIV,” he said.
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Great to see the Gardai are watching these shits well done Gardai.
Perfect reason to keep the Garda Stations open for business.
We appreciate them and they are doing a great job .
Yes, let’s forget about statistics and empirical evidence, and instead base all actions henceforth on one arrest which was from intelligence fed by the PSNI.
It doesn’t say anywhere in the article that this arrest resulted due to “intelligence” provide by the PSNI. Where did you pull that nugget from??
You’re right, it was the garda black ops unit operating behind the border that gave them the intelligence about burglaries in Northern Ireland.
“Sinead, you should be arrested under section 37, ‘being a moan bag’. ”
In fairness to them they actually did something today. Long may it last.
Sorry Sinéad all I see here is bloody good work from the Gardaí. As an aside do you have a difficulty with the Gardaí and PSNI sharing information?!
Would you like salt on your chips Sinead?
Haha legend
Sinead, what’s with the personal vendetta against the Gardai?
According to the Independent, the chase started in NI and the suspects made for the border. The PSNI contacted the Gardaí, who resumed the chase.
Lock them up and throw away the key. Well done to the brave guards…
Fantastic work by our brave Gardai, putting themselves in danger to stop these criminals
It’s what their paid to do ,no need to over do the pat on the back.Still a lot of thugs with 100s of convictions causing mayhem walking the streets,the justice system is badly flawed,with repeat offenders laughing at the judges and cops as they know they will only get a few months in the slammer.
Paid??? Not paid half enough these days for what they do!!! Well done brave Gardai keep up good work!
Don’t blame the Gardai for the flaws in our legal system – it’s childish. I’d say there are few more frustrated than they are at the number of little scrotes walking around giving the two fingered salute to society.
Theyre not paid to put themselves in danger ya coward
They get nice compensation for “post traumatic stress” when they’re put in danger, . Over 7 million last year alone, or an average of €55,000.
I wonder how many “traumatic stress” claims will result from this arrest?
Sinead as the son of a garda who lost his life to ” a 55000 traumatic stress claim ” I felt the need to join twitter and ask you to think of some of the injuries these gaurds may of suffered before you post ridiculous comments on a new’s story
Wasting your time Paul. Sinead has a bee in her bonnet about the Guards especially the compensation claims, which is money awarded to Gardai by an independent person and is their statutory right attempt to claim.
To her the benefit I’d guess either her or someone close had a bad experience with a Garda and this has tainted her opinion of the 11500 guards in all parts of the country.
What is your point sinead?
Whay happens is she got lippy and then totally out witted by a guard at some point and felt slightly shown up.
Great work on the stop
Justice system. Not gardai. If you were a garda and the justice system was as shit as our one; Where months of work go down the drain for a suspended sentence, would u blame the gardai for having low morale, and doing the bare minimum?
These Fu*KS and there type are a plague on our rural /isolated community.
Chaingang system, has to be brought in, love to see these s€um picking up rubbish along the motorway chained to each other in orange Guantanamo bay style suits.
I passed this just as the fire was being put out. Major traffic disruption caused mainly by the rubberneckers gawking at the scene . Some of them nearly caused more accidents by their stupid behaviour.
Well done cops….this is the aggressive policing we like to see. Ram them off the road
Agreed. Problem is they’ll probably have the ombudsman crawling up their backside to see it what they ate for dinner last Thursday night made them aggressive in their decision making in their actions today. System is stacked against them but fair play to them
Well done guards. Lets hope they get what’s coming to them. I missed the incident with my three year old only by fate. She was going to have dinner late with childminder but we decided to come home and eat instead. Phew
What d’ya have to eat?
Saw this earlier on today. The car that went on fire was not the car involved in the chase. And it was quite a big fire when it got going. http://twitter.com/Bduffyphoto/status/355024205894529024/photo/1 Credit to Brendan Duffy on twitter for the picture.
I was thinking about taking the motorway on the way home from hospital at exactly 5:30pm so glad I didn’t take it now and decided to take the more scenic route. Thank God.
Jesus saves….
Rumorr has it our lord was driving the special branch. #thanksbetogod!!!
God is amazeballs LOLZOL
Aldridge gets the rebound
Oooh lord jesus it’s a fiaaarr…#aintnobodygottimeforthat
Should have let the fire burn a little bit longer in my opinion.
The fire was not in the chased car (article is wrong) so by all means toast your marshmallows on the roaring fire but you’re wishing damage on an innocent party.
@Pat – as you obviously understood my post was in reference to the article above (incorrect or no) and inferred my thoughts were about these despicable characters who were involved in this chase, I was not referring to an innocent party and never would say such things about law abiding individuals. My marshmallows are well toasty, thanks.
Not what my husband saw, the guards had to chase them for a while before they caught them they ran accross five lanes and the small fire was an un related car that had broken down near the chase, unfortunatley himself and my five year old witnessed the whole thing
Stroked jammer
Excellent photo of the incident apparently caught by some bloke stuck in traffic as this happened! Kudos to this Colm O’ Brien. Irelands next David Bailey?
Anyone watch person of interest? I wish we had a real life Mr.Finch and Mr.Reese
The fire was in a Citroen Picasso down the road a little from this.
Anto, they think Bridget is a mot…..
they should be publicly flogged, might be a deter them!
Good result, … But our gardai cant really afford to be wrecking good mondeos at a rate of several per day, … And i’d put money on it that the perps were back home on the streets within 12 hours of being apprehended.
I thought the car that went on fire was a separate incident while stuck in traffic at the same place? the smashed up car doesnt look like a citreon and it was a citreon that went up in flames!
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