{"id":551495,"date":"2026-07-15T19:59:13","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:59:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551495\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T19:59:13","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T19:59:13","slug":"ireland-seriously-at-risk-of-failing-to-end-new-hiv-transmissions-by-2030-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/551495\/","title":{"rendered":"Ireland \u2018seriously at risk\u2019 of failing to end new HIV transmissions by 2030 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ireland is \u201cseriously at risk\u201d of failing to meet its commitment to end new HIV transmissions by 2030, a new report has warned.<\/p>\n

In the programme for government and the National Sexual Health Strategy, the State has committed to ending new HIV transmission by the end of this decade.<\/p>\n

However, a new report by HIV Ireland, developed with clinicians, researchers, advocates and people with lived experience has said the country is unlikely to achieve this objective on the current trajectory.<\/p>\n

According to the research, the total cost of care for people living with HIV in Ireland between 2025 and 2030 could reach more than \u20ac694 million, with the additional lifetime costs associated with new diagnoses alone estimated at \u20ac2.02 billion.<\/p>\n

Stephen O\u2019Hare, executive director of HIV Ireland, said Ireland has the knowledge and tools to end new transmissions. \u201cWhat this report makes clear is that we are not currently applying them at the scale or speed required,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIreland is reporting rising cases of HIV in certain demographics. We continue to see unacceptable levels of late diagnosis and people seeking pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) are waiting up to a year. We urgently need the Government to publish a national action plan for HIV.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prof Yvonne Gilleece, a consultant in HIV medicine in Brighton, said Ireland has the second highest HIV case rate per capita in Europe.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt [Ireland] doesn\u2019t have any prevention programmes. It doesn\u2019t have an HIV action plan. This is a really key opportune moment to intervene,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Emily O\u2019Reilly: My brother\u2019s HIV seemed under control. So why did he die?Opens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Gilleece said in England there is widespread HIV testing of everyone who attends emergency departments.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have had 1.3 million HIV tests delivered by emergency department testers in the 33 months since it was started. And 8 per cent of all new HIV diagnoses in England were found through emergency department testing in 2024,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a really good way to find people who haven\u2019t tested. That doesn\u2019t exist in Ireland; there\u2019s only a pilot project in James\u2019s Hospital. But if you\u2019re not testing people you\u2019re not going to be able to find them. If you can\u2019t find them, you can\u2019t treat them and you can\u2019t prevent onward transmission of HIV.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dr Cathal \u00d3 Broin, consultant in infectious diseases at St Vincent\u2019s University Hospital, Dublin, said there are a number of areas that stand out to him as obstacles to achieving the country\u2019s goals.<\/p>\n

\u201cCertainly access to prevention is one. We know that access to HIV PrEP, which is a tablet you take to prevent HIV transmission, is really, really effective. As good as a condom at preventing HIV,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut we know that services are at capacity and that we\u2019ve significantly more to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00d3 Broin added that stigma and taboo is another aspect that needs to be tackled, as well as ensuring \u201cunderserved populations\u201d receive the education and support they need.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think if we tackle stigma through education and public health policy, we\u2019ll be much more effective in our testing strategies,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Ireland is \u201cseriously at risk\u201d of failing to meet its commitment to end new HIV transmissions by 2030,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551496,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43,50042,101589],"class_list":["post-551495","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news","tag-st-jamess-hospital","tag-st-vincent-s-university-hospital"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551495","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551495"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551495\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551496"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551495"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551495"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551495"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}