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Man with a HIV express test. Shutterstock/divasoft

'I'm most angry at myself': HIV positive people continue to suffer from stigma in Ireland

17% of people living in HIV say they have felt suicidal in the last year.

ALMOST ONE IN five HIV positive people in Ireland say they have felt suicidal in the last year.

The HIV in Ireland survey 2017, which will launch this morning, has found that stigma continues to have a significant impact on people living with the condition in this country.

Being open about their diagnosis was a huge concern to HIV positive people in Ireland, the survey found, as 61% of respondents reported not disclosing their status to one or more people for fear of being judged or treated differently.

HIV diagnoses have increased by 35% since 2011 in Ireland. Along with the 512 new diagnoses in 2016, a total of 485 people were diagnosed in Ireland in 2015.

Shame and rejection

88% of people living with HIV agreed that some members of the general population believe living with the condition is shameful.

In the previous year, 61% of respondents feared being rejected in a personal relationship as a consequence of their HIV status, and 32% had experienced such rejection.

Meanwhile, 55% feared being outed as HIV positive by other people, and to a lesser extent, 17% of people fear violent attacks if they disclosed their diagnosis.

Furthermore, 54% of respondents were single compared to 38% in the general population.

The report included a number of testimonies from people living with HIV.

“It can leave you lonely and it is very hard to discuss with some people. I blame it for the fact that I’m single and worry about old age – an odd thing for someone my [young] age,” one person said.

“I am always wary of my status being found out, but the stigma, I believe, is worse. I think I am hardest on myself. I am most angry at myself at this late stage in life and I hate myself for it. I have attempted to overdose, and I spent a week in hospital, soon after diagnosis,” another said.

17% of people living with HIV say they have felt suicidal in the last year. This compares to the national average of 4%.

“This survey is of crucial importance in highlighting the need for policymakers and politicians to understand the impact that HIV-related stigma is having on people living with the condition,” Niall Mulligan, executive director of HIV Ireland, who commissioned the report, said.

“It’s time to open our eyes to the damage HIV-related stigma is having on people’s lives.”

HIV Ireland works to improve, through a range of support services, conditions for people living with HIV, AIDS and Hepatitis in Ireland.

Misinformed attitudes

The survey was undertaken to identify levels of knowledge and attitudes to HIV, within the whole population, as well as recording the experiences of people living with HIV.

Some 1,013 people responded to the general survey and 168 people responded to the survey specifically for people living with HIV.

Among the general population, the research found various degrees of knowledge about HIV.

One in five 18 to 24-year-olds incorrectly thought HIV can be passed from person to person through the sharing of a public toilet seat, compared to 10% of those over 24.

24% of people incorrectly believed that HIV can be transmitted through kissing, while 11% wrongly thought it could be transmitted through coughing or sneezing.

One in 10 people said they wouldn’t feel comfortable working with a colleague who was HIV positive.

“Negative or misinformed attitudes to HIV, and towards people living with HIV, can create obstacles for people getting tested. UNAIDS estimates that across Europe, 15% of people living with HIV aren’t aware of their condition,” Mulligan said.

It is crucial that we remove as many barriers as possible to people getting tested. Stigma is one of those barriers.

HIV protection in Ireland

The government has provided funding to the KnowHow Rapid Testing scheme, a HIV testing initiative in pubs and clubs in Ireland, as part of the National Sexual Health Strategy.

Minister of State at the Department of Health Catherine Byrne will open HIV Ireland’s 30th anniversary national conference today.

Speaking ahead of the event, she said: ”The government – through the HSE – continues to provide annual funding to HIV Ireland for the important work that it undertakes in the areas of support for people living with HIV and for the promotion of sexual health in the general population.”

Despite this, a groundbreaking HIV-prevention drug – which has been recommended by the World Health Organisation – has yet to be made available through the HSE general medical services scheme (GMS).

Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) is a once-daily medication that can significantly reduce the risk of infection among HIV-negative people at high risk.

Truvada, a PrEP medication, is only available to buy on prescription at a price of over €400 a month in Ireland.

The HSE is currently conducting an assessment of whether it would be cost-effective for it to cover the drug. However, that assessment cannot continue until Gilead Sciences, the manufacturer of Truvada, makes a formal application to the HSE. This application has yet to be received.

A study conducted under the National Sexual Health Strategy 2015-2020, published on 26 April, estimated that 2,683 Men who have Sex with Men (MSM) are at substantial risk of contracting HIV and would benefit from the introduction of discounted PrEP medication.

“The government urgently needs to provide additional resources within the areas of HIV prevention, education, community testing, counselling, medication and human rights advocacy,” Mulligan said.

The one-day HIV Ireland conference taking place today will explore the history of HIV, stigma and social inclusion, homelessness, sex work, the LGBT community, the migrant community, and people living with HIV in Ireland since 1987.

Read: Explainer: What’s being done to bring anti-HIV medication into Ireland?

More: Increase in rate of HIV cases in Irish people aged over 50

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34 Comments
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    Mute Missyb211
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    Sep 28th 2017, 7:21 AM

    There should be no more stigma attached to having HIV as there is for cervical cancer which is caused by another std. Isn’t it strange though that there is a stigma for the viruses and AIDS but not for the cancer.

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    Mute Jamie
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    Sep 28th 2017, 8:03 AM

    @Missyb211: what STD causes cervical cancer?

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    Mute Vincent
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    Sep 28th 2017, 9:39 AM
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    Mute bigbrownduck
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    Sep 28th 2017, 9:58 AM

    @Jamie: The HPV virus

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    Mute Aoife Dooley
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    Sep 28th 2017, 10:14 AM

    @Missyb211: not every cervical cancer patient has the HPV virus, far from it. HPV virus is only one of many causes of cervical cancer.

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    Mute Michael Kelly
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    Sep 28th 2017, 10:33 AM

    @Vincent: I don’t see why everyone relates this VIRUS to only sex, when there are multiple ways of Contracting it… Take Hospitals for one, poor hygiene, then the next patient….
    I even remember a news Article some years back saying something along the lines of: any woman who gave birth during such & such a year ( I was concerned coz my sister was born in 1977 ) anyway, the medical board issued a statement that whoever gave birth, & had “Complications” like C-Section or whatever, had to be screened, because of a “bad” batch of blood, for sometime, was not being thoroughly examined before use…( during transfusions or so..)And also, I remember going to a Dentist myself, who was about to use the same gloves as the patient before me.. So guys, don’t just put it down to sex is all…

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 28th 2017, 11:20 AM

    @Aoife Dooley: actually the percentage is 70%, so it’s not far from it.

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    Mute Missyb211
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    Sep 28th 2017, 1:03 PM

    @Aoife Dooley: while i didn’t look up the stats , every bit of info about cirvical cancer say’s “nearly all cases are caused by…”. I’d assume nearly all to be in the 90′s at least but I see someone mentionef 70%. clearly not every but a signuficant amount!

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    Mute Thomas Byrne
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    Sep 28th 2017, 1:30 PM

    @Missyb211: yeah because it’s your own fault if you get HIV… any poor sod can get cancer it’s like comparing apples and oranges ye dzzzzoopppeee

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    Mute Ray Muller
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    Sep 28th 2017, 7:59 PM

    @Missyb211:
    No not at all, unless of course you are grossly ignorant or just plain delusional. Cervical cancer is not self inflicted or caused by a std!

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 28th 2017, 10:46 PM

    @Ray Muller: it’s not self inflicted but in 70% of cases it is actually caused by the sexually transmitted disease HPV. Hence the drive for a vaccine.

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    Mute nick mullen
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    Sep 29th 2017, 12:49 AM

    @Missyb211: agree with you but there was a stigma about cancer some years ago here in Ireland some people here thought it was contagious and would cross the road to avoid someone they knew had cancer

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    Mute nick mullen
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    Sep 29th 2017, 12:50 AM

    @Jamie: H. P. V

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    Mute nick mullen
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    Sep 29th 2017, 1:45 AM

    @John B: they have the hpv vaccine already free to 25 & under

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    Mute nick mullen
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    Sep 29th 2017, 1:53 AM

    @Michael Kelly: highly unlikely it is a virus that is spread through intimate contact exchange of bodily fluids or blood contact, if hiv was spread as easily as you fear instead of an estimated 39 million infected world wide it would be at least 1 billion++

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    Mute PJ Maguire Kavanagh
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    Sep 28th 2017, 10:57 AM

    Well at the end of the day the Irish government already have an option available to them to slow down/stop the spread of HIV… PrEP… Why it’s not as accessible as birth control pills is baffling.

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 28th 2017, 11:22 AM

    @PJ Maguire Kavanagh: it’s quite simple: condoms are a tiny fraction of the cost and perhaps why the reluctance. Prep is primarily taken by men who have sex with men and wish to continue to do so without protection. Prep is taken by those who want to be able to continue to have multiple partners and continue to practice unsafe sex.

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    Mute Graham.Kavanagh
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    Sep 28th 2017, 12:17 PM

    @John B: Speed limits and safe, careful driving cost a tiny fraction compared to putting seat belts and airbags in cars. But despite this people still take risks and still make mistakes. All the tut-tutting in the world won’t change human nature.

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    Mute Brian Madden
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    Sep 28th 2017, 12:20 PM

    @John B: prep is also taken by partners or both homosexual and heterosexual couples where one partner is positive and one us negative. Stop scaremongering.

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 28th 2017, 2:43 PM

    @Brian Madden: I’m not scaremongering, I work in a jurisdiction where prep is available, and the demographic I described constitutes the majority of people taking it.

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    Mute nick mullen
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    Sep 29th 2017, 1:20 AM

    @John B: agreed if some individuals decide to have unprotected anal sex the risks are quite high if one of the partners has an active std ie herpes type 1 or 2, clamidia, gonorrhea, syphilis, hpv, the risk of hiv can increase by as much as 8 fold if the recipient partner is exposed to a recently hiv infected partner who has not yet seroconverted the risk can increase by as much as 20+ fold due to the high hiv rna, sadly sex is becoming a Russian roulette for people now.

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    Mute nick mullen
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    Sep 29th 2017, 1:43 AM

    @PJ Maguire Kavanagh: simple it’s much more expensive in the short term, but not necessarily in the long term, but our gov don’t think that way

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    Mute Eric Glare
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    Sep 29th 2017, 5:54 AM

    @John B: PrEP is safe sex and with it being much more effective than condoms there is a moral obligation to promote PrEP over condoms for high risk people. The other strategy safer than condoms is the person with HIV having undetectable viral load, called treatment as prevention (TasP). I have been unable to transmit HIV for 18 years as I have had undetectable viral load all that time. PrEP and TasP are for people who want to mitigate HIV risk more than condoms can provide.

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 28th 2017, 11:26 AM

    Some factually inaccuracy here. For example HIV can be transmitted through kissing if both partners have open sores in gums (although uncommon).

    Also the premise of the article is that it is the HIV virus that causes the stigma. It may be that it is the associated behaviours that are stigmatized: it is mostly homosexual men and drug use (both account for 60% of new diagnoses despite being only 10% of the population). Hopefully this will change with progress in areas like gay marriage etc.

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    Mute Brian Madden
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    Sep 28th 2017, 12:18 PM

    @John B: John you can’t catch hiv by kissing. Its Only transmitted by blood and fluids of the vagina and anus. You said open sores in gums can pass on hiv. That’s totally inaccurate.

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 28th 2017, 2:44 PM

    @Brian Madden: it’s not me that said it, it’s the CDC. https://wwwn.cdc.gov/hivrisk/transmit/activities/kissing.html

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    Mute Ken Pepper
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    Sep 28th 2017, 9:47 PM

    @John B: only 10% ? Don’t think so

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    Mute John B
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    Sep 28th 2017, 10:48 PM

    @Ken Pepper: well that’s what the estimates are. Census says it’s actually much lower than 10% but it is likely higher as many people probably don’t write it on the census.

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    Mute Alois Irlmaier
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    Sep 29th 2017, 12:04 AM

    HIV is a risk that is real, why do people take the chance as it is as good as a delayed suicide?

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    Mute nick mullen
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    Sep 29th 2017, 1:40 AM

    @Alois Irlmaier: well according to what I have read on the net same as most people here hiv is meant to be about the same to treat as diabetes not sure if it’s type 1 or 2 (big difference) so it becomes a chronic manageable disease! Except the medications are expensive including viral load/cd4 tests etc. Few times per year

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    Mute jamshed Qudsia
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