Robert Milling ¦ Contributing Writer
Today marks the 26th observance of December 1st as World AIDS day, the WHO’s official public health campaign to increase education and prevention of the disease. Here in Ireland HIV/AIDS is something often forgotten about or ignored, particularly in the gay community. AIDS is no longer seen as a threat, we regard it as some benign condition that can be treated, and it has begun to fade into the background. For most of us, the AIDS crisis is not even a memory, it’s a remnant of history, a problem from a time before we were born.
But the figures suggest that it’s still a very real threat. 83 per cent of gay and bisexual men in Ireland consider their risk of contracting HIV as unlikely or very unlikely. Researchers have found that 70 per cent of sexually active gay and bisexual men have had unprotected sex, with almost one in ten saying they always have unprotected anal sex. In 2013 the HSE-Health Protection Surveillance Centre published the latest statistics for HIV in Ireland – 344 new diagnoses, 46.2% of those were among men who have sex with men (MSM). Young people accounted for 12% of these new cases and 37% of the total cases were diagnosed late including those who were severely immuno-compromised.
The Irish figures for HIV/AIDS have been on the rise in the past few years, and it’s important to get tested and be sure of your status. In a country where sex education is criminally lacking and even more so for LGBT*Q people it is vital to educate and inform yourself of the risks associated with unsafe sex. In Dublin alone there are a number of free clinics – the Gay Men’s Health Service on Baggot St., GUIDE Clinic in James’s St. Hospital, the Dublin AIDS Alliance and clinics in the Mater Misericordiae and Beaumont Hospital.
To coincide with World AIDS Day today, QSoc will be selling AIDS Day ribbons in the Hamilton, Arts Block and D’Olier Street for €1 each in support of the Dublin AIDS Alliance, who provide community support, prevention, education and training to people living with HIV, their families and supporters as well as community groups, agencies, professionals, statutory bodies, youth groups, voluntary agencies, education centres, colleges, and schools.
For information about HIV, safer sex, testing and support please visit: www.dublinaidsalliance.ie; www.man2man.ie; www.positivenow.ie
