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Irish dentists refusing to treat HIV positive patients 'adds to stigma'

The “worrying” levels of HIV diagnoses have been discussed at the Oireachtas Health Committee. There are set to be more cases of HIV in Ireland in 2015 than in any other year.

shutterstock_144206617 An unidentified woman marching to raise awareness regarding HIV stigma in Minneapolis last June Shutterstock / miker Shutterstock / miker / miker

HIV DIAGNOSES IN Ireland are increasing with 25% more cases of the virus discovered in Ireland so far this year compared with 2014.

The levels of HIV diagnosis here were discussed yesterday at the Oireachtas Health Committee at Leinster House.

Currently there are 3,500 people living with HIV in Ireland, executive director with HIV Ireland Niall Mulligan told the committee.

In 2014, 342 new cases of HIV were diagnosed here while in 2013 the figure stood at 377.

Provisional figures up to November for 2015 show that 427 new cases of HIV have come to light, an increase of 85 on last year with one month of the year to go.

203 people were diagnosed in the first half of this year, a rate of more than one person per day.

“Currently 30% of people who have HIV are unaware that they have it,” said Mulligan, citing a World Health Organisation (WHO) figure.

niall mull Niall Mulligan Oireachtas.ie Oireachtas.ie

“There is a lack of access to testing and a lack of awareness regarding the disease.”

Of the new diagnoses in Ireland this year, 85 were men who had had sex with men, 38 came from heterosexual encounters, and one was a child who had the virus passed onto them by their mother.

Mulligan expanded in his remarks to the committee on the stigma that is associated with HIV. Indeed stigma was a word repeatedly used by all three people appearing at the meeting.

By way of example, he cited cases in which HIV Ireland have dealt with people experiencing discrimination:

  • A man who had landed a job on a cruise ship was let go two days later when his positive HIV status became known
  • HIV Ireland had to convince a creche manager that he didn’t need to inform all of his clients of the fact that one child in his care was HIV positive
  • Some dentists in Dublin have either been referring HIV positive patients to community dental schemes, or else scheduling them as their last appointment of the day to “reduce the risk of cross-contamination”

“The negative aspects to a disclosure of being HIV positive are very real. People do not recognise the chaos that such a diagnosis can cause to a person’s career, their college life. At present there are 50 countries around the world that a person with a HIV positive diagnosis cannot travel to,” said Mulligan.

We work to help people navigate the disclosure. It can be quite a complex problem, both from society and as a form of self-stigma.

deordre Deirdre Seery Oireachtas.ie Oireachtas.ie

As regards the increase in rates of diagnosis, Deirdre Seery of the Cork Sexual Health Centre said that there is no concrete data as to why levels are increasing.

“Testing is greatly increasing which may go some way to explaining the figures,” she said.

It is possible that with treatment improving all the time, the lack of visibility of HIV and AIDS has made us complacent. There has undeniably been an increase in risky sexual behaviours.

“Our greatest challenge is to increase testing,” said Seery.

We also need targeted prevention. For most of this country it is ok to be gay. But for many that is still not the case. Many men who have sex with men do not acknowledge being gay.
These hidden populations are very difficult to engage with. By their very nature they’re hidden.
Sex education is effective. And by that I mean sex education, not just reproductivity.

tiernan2 Tiernan Brady Oireachtas.ie Oireachtas.ie

The overall picture is “not good”, said Tiernan Brady, policy director with Ireland’s Gay and Lesbian Network (GLEN).

“Since 2005 we’ve seen a 200% increase in the number of HIV diagnoses,” he said.

This year will see the highest number of diagnoses on record.

Brady also bemoaned the fact that the average age of those who are diagnosed has dropped from 37 in 2005 to 31 today.

“More than anything else we need to make clear the importance of someone knowing what their status is,” he said.

The sooner someone knows the sooner they can begin treatment and the better their long-term health prognosis is.

Brady and Seery nevertheless say there is a lot to be positive about.

2016 will see the pilot of an outreach programme that will see one-minute free testing introduced, thus removing the stigma of attending a medical facility. This type of testing has already been introduced in Limerick and Cork.

Seery also spoke glowingly of the success of Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PREP), a pill for preventing HIV negative people who are exposed to the virus from contracting it.

“What’s important now is to figure out who the people are who need this drug most, and to make sure that they get it,” she said.

Read: The needles on the cobbles are nothing new – but the human excrement is shocking

Read: Number of teenagers dying from AIDS has tripled since 2000

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175 Comments
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    Mute Thomas Harrington
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    Apr 20th 2021, 7:51 PM

    1) Cops only go after the easy stops
    2) students need to grow a pair

    165
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    Mute Big Smokey
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:12 PM

    @Thomas Harrington: honestly have never seen students complaining. Only people complaining about students.

    Also I don’t see how it’s acceptable to say “grow a pair” when students are getting regular fines of €75 when they don’t have any income.

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    Mute Brian Lyons
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:46 PM

    @Thomas Harrington: if they only go after the easy stops who is filling the jail’s with the terrorists, murderers, organised gangs ?

    69
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    Mute Pat Casey
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:04 PM

    If those little scrotes weren’t having house parties and super spreader get togethers they would have no problems with the guards.

    154
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    Mute Lily Martin
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    Apr 20th 2021, 9:29 PM

    @Pat Casey: maybe read the article

    46
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    Mute seangolden1978
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    Apr 20th 2021, 7:52 PM

    Policing Authority trying to justify their existence again. I can understand the role of GSOC but the policing authority seems like a complete waste of time

    147
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    Mute O Hiongardail Collie
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:13 PM

    The policing authority…… They don’t want body cams because that would be spying on the community says it all really

    89
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    Mute Diarmuid O'Braonáin
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:08 PM

    “People should not be afraid of their government, government should be afraid of their people”

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    Mute merely ed
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:35 AM

    @Diarmuid O’Braonáin: they are… thats why we have the police. You don’t think they’re there for us, do you?!

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    Mute plug
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    Apr 20th 2021, 7:58 PM

    low hanging fruit is always the tastiest.

    77
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    Mute Garreth mc mahon
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:00 PM

    @plug: depends on who’s plums you’re tasting

    34
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    Mute merely ed
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:31 AM

    @plug: True that… sure most garda never even see an actual criminal. It goes…
    Order of engagement:
    Drug users (non supply)
    Low level drug mules/ growers
    Students
    Road users
    Actual criminals (low level)
    White collar
    Government corruption
    Other police (usually abusive partners… although realistically this would be much further down)

    13
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    Mute Darren Carroll
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    Apr 20th 2021, 8:34 PM

    And yet no fines for people attending golfgate

    71
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    Mute OnlyHereForTheComments
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:14 AM

    @Darren Carroll: bit difficult since fines for breaching travel restrictions only came into effect in January 2021, but hey! Whataboutery, am I right?!

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    Mute merely ed
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:37 AM

    @OnlyHereForTheComments: well you’re certainly leaning that way…

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    Mute larry bird
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    Apr 20th 2021, 9:34 PM

    if students behaved they wouldn’t have this issue.

    33
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    Mute Jæ Zucula
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:13 PM

    @larry bird: and for you! What about read the article? I promise you won’t take that long.

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    Mute Honeybee
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:51 PM

    I do have sympathy for students as depicted in the article and yes the pandemic has introduced a changed interface between the gardai and the public. Some gardai behave in an authoritarian manner arising out of new powers the government sanctioned , for a people who have always known policing by consent, this change in attitude is difficult to take on board, it will be good when sanctions are withdrawn and policing returns to normal, no more heavy handed rules and interrogation of people just trying to live their lives.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 21st 2021, 9:10 AM

    @Honeybee: The Gardai will always feel entitled to interrogate you at any checkpoint from this point onwards, regardless of the law. Sure, I was out walking once in the park a few years ago and they wanted to randomly search my bag, know all my details… I just asked “why?” and they responded “because we’ll arrest you if you don’t tell us”. Gardai are disgusting to deal with as a young person.

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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 21st 2021, 9:06 AM

    Gardaí will only target those they can pick on. Older people can break the 5km all they like and have far fewer consequences. Students (within their 5km) have been fined so many times (anecdotally). It’s the same with drugs – they’ll pick on harmless people for smoking a joint and won’t go after real drug dealing criminals.

    10
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    Mute Tomo
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    Apr 21st 2021, 9:15 AM

    I really don’t think Irish people fully understand the implications of all these restrictions, having the longest lockdown in the world, and having people in fear of arrest or fine just from seeing a police officer. These have long term consequences down the line. Just one example is, as mentioned in the article, if young people start seeing Gardai as the aggressor, they’re could end up not reporting crime to the Gardai.

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    Mute Mr T
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    Apr 21st 2021, 12:02 AM

    The Garda, not all, are incorrectly perceived as being desk jockeys who turn a blind eye to common dangerous misdemeanors such as cyclists with no lights on their bikes, cyclsts breaking red lights and less dangerous but, just as annoying, dog owners not being fined for not picking up their dog’s excrement (nothing quite beats walking in dog s%it and bringing it home on your shoes).

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    Mute Gavin Tobin
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:22 PM

    As Alexei Sayle once said “I hate fooking students, even when I was a student I hated fooking students”

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    Mute Jæ Zucula
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    Apr 20th 2021, 10:18 PM

    So there you have! I’m not a student and i can tell that what written in this article doesn’t surprise me at all.
    Anyway, people refuse but the truth of since 2020 “End does justify the means”.

    6
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