African migrants should be encouraged to have HIV tests, says Fine Gael

PEOPLE arriving in Ireland from sub-Saharan Africa must be encouraged to undergo tests for HIV, Fine Gael said yesterday.

New HIV infections in Ireland are up 10% on last year, reflecting a worrying increase in unsafe sex.

Figures released by the National Disease Surveillance Centre (NDSC) show that over half of the 399 new infections recorded were heterosexually acquired. And over half of those newly diagnosed came from sub-Saharan Africa.

In the last six years, the number of HIV infections diagnosed annually has increased two-and-a-half times.

Fine Gael health spokesperson Olivia Mitchell said the increase in HIV cases underlined the need to make the virus a notifiable disease.

Now the disease responded well to treatment the argument that mandatory reporting would prevent sufferers from presenting themselves did not stand up any more, she said.

There was a need for a targeted campaign to encourage people from sub-Saharan Africa to be tested on arrival, she said. “The Government has taken a far too relaxed approach to this critical public health issue and is in danger of losing control of the problem,” Ms Mitchell warned.

A breakdown of the newly diagnosed cases shows 221 were heterosexually acquired, compared to 232 in 2002 and 173 in 2001. Just under half (196) of those newly diagnosed were women and 81 were pregnant when the virus was detected.

There were 75 new cases diagnosed among gay and bisexual men last year, compared with 46 for the previous year. A total of 47 new diagnoses among intravenous drug users were made during 2003, compared to 50 in 2002.

There was no information on the risk group for 39 of the newly diagnosed cases.

Of the newly diagnosed, 133 were born in Ireland, and just over 80% were men. Among the Irish-born group who were newly diagnosed were 30 heterosexuals, 56 gay or bisexual men, and 45 intravenous drug users. The sexual orientation of two people was undefined. The geographic origin for 41 cases was unavailable.

Of all those diagnosed in 2003, 196 were women and 202 were men. Almost eight out of 10 were aged between 20 and 40 years.

NDSC specialist in public medicine, Dr Mary Cronin, said the figures underlined the need for appropriate prevention and treatment services for all risk groups in Ireland, including migrants and ethnic communities.

She also urged people to heed the safe sex message because the spread of HIV was facilitated by sexually transmitted diseases that had also increased dramatically in recent years, she said.

“While the increase may be good news in that more people are presenting for testing, it does indicate that there is more risky sexual behaviour, particularly among the gay and bisexual community. That is of great concern to us,” she said.

Dr Cronin said the number of diagnoses in people born in sub-Saharan Africa mirrored the study of the disease in other Eastern European countries and was not unexpected, given that 70% of the world’s HIV cases are found in sub-Saharan Africa.