'Young Women know more about HIV than Chlamydia'

INFECTIOUS disease clinics in Ireland are straining to keep up with demand and it's easy to to see why. Almost two in five adults in Ireland report having been tested for a sexually transmitted disease. The Red C poll into sexual behaviour among young adults aged from 18 to 34 years found that 38% of young people have been screened for an STI. Those most likely to have been tested are in the older age bracket and live in Dublin.

Dr Jack Lambert, consultant in infectious diseases and genito-urinary medicine at the Mater and Rotunda Hospitals, says the finding is unremarkable as the services outside of Dublin for sexually transmitted infections are so poor. "There is a huge shortage of infectious diseases clinics in Ireland, in comparison to the United Kingdom." says Dr Lambert, who worked in Britain and the United States for many years before arriving in Ireland four years ago. Some 61% of young adults surveyed said they had never been tested for an STI while 7% say they have contracted an STI in the past. A surprising number of adults have also reported being tested for HIV. Almost one in every three adults say they were tested for the disease. The figures surprised many medical health practitioners and the Dublin AIDS Alliance. Mary O'Shea,executive director of the alliance, says she is encouraged to see young people being tested but fears that the stigma surrounding the illness is as great as ever.

Contracting an STI outside of the Dublin region is a challenging experience for young adults, sexual health practitioners agree. Dr Shirley McQuade, medical director of the Wellwoman Centre, says the difficulty for many in rural areas is having to face their local GP. Not only that, but the cost is now more prohibitive than ever. Two out of five people may be screened for an STI but the cost of privatescreening is proving a deterrent.

Dr McQuade says the last year has seen many people attending their clinic for testing but resorting to the hospitals when they learn of the cost. The difficulty, according to Dr Lambert, is that the waiting time can be anything up to two months for a test if the person is asymptomatic. The Wellwoman Centre and the Irish Family Planning Association say testing services should be free of charge. 'I had a woman in here who had contracted Herpes today and her treatment will cost her at least €100,' says Dr McQuade.

Irish Family Planning Association chief executive Niall Behan says facilities outside of Dublin are appalling. 'Politicians should be talking about this. The whole area of sexual health needs to be led from the top. The politicians, the media, the education providers should all be having the conversation about this.' Condoms are still considered a luxury item among young adults, according to Mary O'Shea who believes the cost of condoms continues to have an adverse impact on sexual health. Although the cost has fallen with the drop in VAt, o'shea believes they should be freely available to everyone.

She worries that concerns about HIV have slipped off the political agenda and young people who didn't live through the AIDS scare campaigns of the 1980's only associate the disease with Africa.

The prevalance of HIV however in Ireland is less of a concern than the spread of Chlamydia. The HSE progress report on strategic planning reported recently that cases of sexually transmitted chlamydia jumped by 1,300% in the 12 years to 2007. Dr Stephanie O'Keeffe, research and policy manager with the HSE Crisis Pregnancy Programme, says in her experience young women are far more knowledgeable about HIV than Chlamydia and the programme is actively working to change this.

Irish Examiner 20.01.2010