FREE CONDOMS should be provided across a range of targeted health settings to help reduce the spread of HIV and Aids, a new national action plan has recommended.
The HIV and Aids Education and Prevention Plan 2008-2012 also recommends major education and awareness campaigns to prevent complacency and ensure accurate information is available to the public.
It places a high priority on encouraging HIV testing for all target groups at risk of HIV, and underlines the role of civil society groups in working within communities to spread awareness of how to combat the spread of Aids.
The action plan was developed over an 18-month period, and resulted from a review and a national consultation aimed at identifying priorities, gaps and areas for action over the next four years.
Figures reported last week by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre indicate a 7 per cent increase in newly-diagnosed HIV infections in 2007 compared to the previous year.
During 2007 there were 362 newly-diagnosed HIV infections reported, compared to 337 cases in 2006 and 318 cases in 2005.
Of the new HIV cases, some 146 patients were heterosexual, while homosexual men accounted for 75 infections. Another 54 were intravenous drug users.
Although the gender of 23 cases was unknown, 209 were male and 130 were female, with 29 of those having been pregnant.
Speaking following the strategy’s publication, the director of Dublin Aids Alliance, Mary O’Shea, said services needed to be adequately resourced and ranked higher on the list of health priorities.
“We endorse the plan’s findings that HIV prevention programmes must be of a sufficient scale and intensity to be effective, and that primary care and other community settings should increase the availability of HIV and sexually-transmitted infection screening and testing,” she said.
The group supported the report’s recommendations for free condoms in targeted health settings and enhanced services for new communities in Ireland. Ms O’Shea also called for the full removal of VAT from condoms.
Yesterday’s report was officially launched by the Minister of State with responsibility for health promotion, Mary Wallace.
She said: “HIV is a preventable disease, and this plan gives clear guidance on how the Irish system should progress its prevention efforts.”
