Irish AIDS Day Seminar "Telling it as it is, HIV The Facts"

Our seminar for Irish AIDS Day titled 'Telling it as it is,HIV: The Facts' was held in the Ardilaun Hotel on Tuesday 17th June 2008 and was a great success.  The event was opened by our manager John Flannery  who welcomed a packed  house to hear our three distinguished  speakers talk about their perspective on HIV, here in Ireland and the UK.

 

Dr Catherine Fleming, Senior Consultant with the Infectious Disease Clinic in University College Hospital, Galway gave the keynote address. Dr Fleming told a rapt audience that HIV is an example of Darwin's evolution at its best. Given the chance, it changes to survive and becomes resistant to drugs.That is why adherence to drug regimens is the best way to prevent this resistance and the most successful stories concern those who take more than 95% of their drugs. Dr Fleming outlined the history of the virus from the documented case in 1959 to the present day. Because of  the better side-effect profile of drugs today there are less pills to be taken and better tolerability but HIV is still no picnic. Now that people are living  with the virus rather than dying from it,there has been a resurgence in unsafe sex as people see it as a treatable infection. They do not take into account the side effects of the treatment, for example face- wasting which is very stigmatising as it can identify a person as being HIV positive.

 Dr Fleming also expressed concern about the recent figures released by the HBSC which shows that there were 362 newly diagnosed cases in Ireland, a 7.4% increase since 2005. There has also been  a 20% increase in the number of STIs since 2004.  There is still no cure for HIV.

Dr Fleming  believes that the use of condoms, male circumcision, needle exchange and education most of all, are the keys to its control. Education has to start in the schools, giving a very strong message that unprotected sex can lead to HIV and STIs.

 

Jackie Redding, Associate Director of Service Delivery and Development with the Terrence Higgins Trust in London  spoke of how the rates of HIV continue to rise across the UK. It is estimated  that around 80,000 are living  with HIV, about a third of whom remain undiagnosed. Since 1999, there have  been more heterosexual people diagnosed with the virus than gay men which has meant that there are  more women accessing the services and more children infected and affected by the virus.

Co- infection with Hepatitis C is increasing which brings problems around treatment. In England and Wales there is a reviev of the Disability Living Allowance being carried out which means that many people who have HIV and have been on benefit for as long as 20 years  may well have their benefits cut by 50%. Returning to work may not be easy if  an explanation  of the 20 year gap on a CV  has to be given  as well as  managing the demands of a full-time  job. There is also the issue of how employers will manage the potential challenges of HIV in the workplace.

 

Liz Martin, author of 'Still Standing, An Irishwoman's story of HIV and Hope'  read from her highly acclaimed memoir. A year since it was first launched by AIDS West, it still packs a punch and she held the audience as she told her courageous and sometimes very difficult story.