A round-up of other health news in brief
Travel is behind rise in Aids cases in North
An increase in Aids cases in Northern Ireland is partly down to infections picked up by foreign travellers, it was claimed yesterday.
The volume of HIV and Aids cases is expected to increase significantly and sexual health consultant Dr Raymond Maw said official figures under-estimated fresh diagnoses by about a third.
Most heterosexual people with HIV have been exposed to the virus outside the UK. A total of 65 new cases were diagnosed in 2007. The tally has been increasing since 2001.
Dr Naresh Chada, senior medical officer at the Department of Health, told a conference at Stormont that sexually transmitted diseases posed a major challenge. “It is difficult for us to say why those figures are going up. There seems to be a mixture of issues, one of the continuing infection of men who have sex with men but there is also an increase in heterosexual HIV.”
About 250 people are receiving anti-retroviral therapy which can cost more than £1 million sterling from the drugs budget.
MSF information evening
Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) will have an information evening on February 23rd in the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin. The evening will include an informal presentation by a volunteer who has worked with MSF in many countries. There will also be a short film and a question and answer session. For more information, msf.ie.
Public talk on Handle approach
A public talk on neurodevelopmental difference and help with the Handle approach for ADD/ADHD and other conditions including autism and brain injury will be held in the Froebel Teacher Training College, Cross Avenue, Sion Hill, Blackrock, Co Dublin, from 6.30pm-9pm on Friday, February 20th. It is aimed at parents and medical/educational professionals. For information/bookings, tel: 086-3889884; handle.org