AIDS In Ireland Research Articles

How to Be Irish in an Epidemic: A Dossier Article on HIV and AIDS in Ireland, Then and Now.

This dossier article contains four short and varied contributions from activists and other service and healthcare providers who have been agitating and working on the frontlines of HIV/AIDS in Ireland since the early 1980s. The dossier contains: (1) a history, by Bill Foley, of the early collective efforts of a group of gay men to provoke government action and healthcare under the umbrella of Gay Health Action (GHA) (2) a speech delivered by Dr. Erin Nugent to government officials on the re-branding of HIV Ireland in 2015; (3) a brief history, recounted by Noel Donnellan, of ACT UP Dublin since it was revitalized in 2016 by a small cohort of dedicated activists from a dormant group into a vibrant collective that has achieved great legislative change with regards to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); and (4) a polemic, written by Thomas Strong, on living with HIV as a queer man in Ireland that demonstrates the ways in which HIV stigma not only thrives in but molds and shapes twenty-first-century gay men's communities, both in real life and online.

The transformation of school-based sex education policy in the context of AIDS in Ireland

While AIDS was neither the initial nor the sole factor, it had a profound impact on the development of school-based sex education policy and practice in 1980s Ireland. Attempts to introduce a national programme of sex education on foot of increasing rates of crisis pregnancy pre-date the AIDS era, but these efforts had been vociferously opposed by conservative Catholic interests. The fear generated by AIDS prompted a shift in what political theorist, John Kingdon terms, the 'national mood' that⁠ coupled with the singular determination of then Minister for Education, Mary O’Rourke, who faced down intense opposition from conservative groups and the Catholic Bishops, created the conditions needed to introduce the AIDS Education Resource – a forerunner to the Relationships and Sexuality Education programme – in post-primary schools throughout Ireland in October 1990.

The Gay Community Response to the Emergence of AIDS in Ireland: Activism, Covert Policy, and the Significance of an “Invisible Minority”

Abstract:The first response to AIDS in Ireland emerged from within a radical, socialist, and predominantly nationalist wing of the gay rights movement in 1985. At a time when homosexual acts were criminalized, the Irish state operated a policy of protracted nonengagement with Gay Health Action, while covertly supporting selected health-promotion activities. As international momentum unified around a response to the AIDS crisis characterized by value-neutral public health principles, the Irish State, and particularly the statutory health sector, was compelled to balance the views of a conservative voting majority at home with the liberal consensus that was defining the response internationally. AIDS was a catalyst for change throughout the world and Gay Health Action was at the forefront of that transformative movement in Ireland. At the outbreak of AIDS, the gay community was an “invisible minority” that by 1990 had pushed the boundaries of sexual health discourse to herald a more liberal age.

HIV and AIDS in Irish Theatre: Queer Masculinities, Punishment, and 'Post-AIDS' Culture.

This essay provides a critical survey of key Irish theatre productions that present queer men with HIV or AIDS as a central theme while also seeking to situate several of these productions within the controversial discourse of 'post-AIDS' as it plays out in Irish cultural and social discourses. Through this survey, this essay finds and critically elaborates how a discourse of AIDS as punishment is a common denominator in all of these plays; whether that be as a central metaphor in the drama or conversely as a trope that theatre makers seek to disrupt. Throughout, this essay simultaneously attends to the ways in which non-realist, non-linear dramatic structures (as opposed to social realist narratives) have proved to be better positioned to present the realities of living with HIV or dying with AIDS in Ireland since the emergence of the first Irish AIDS epidemic in 1982. By approaching 'post-AIDS' discourses through the lens of HIV and AIDS in Irish theatre, this essay critically analyses the insidious ways in which 'post-AIDS' Irish culture is bound up with neoliberal discourses of homonormative assimilation and cultural respectability, especially the figuring of HIV/AIDS as punishment for non-assimilation.

Vectors of transnationality in the adoption of a liberal public health response to HIV and AIDS in Ireland

Historical transnationalism offers a lens through which vectors of international ideas influence national social and political dimensions to illuminate the policy transfer pathways that may shape contemporary events. This article applies a historical transnational perspective to examine the ascendency of the liberal consensus in Ireland which largely defined the international response to the AIDS crisis in the 1980s. While AIDS was neither the initial nor the sole driver of policy change, it was a catalyst for the transformation of Ireland’s traditionally Catholic and conservative approach to sexuality and sexual health. In considering the role of a pioneering priest, a public health specialist and a gay collective during this initial era of HIV and AIDS in Ireland, conclusions will be drawn as to the extent to which these key actors operated as vectors of transnationality to promote a global ethic of non-discrimination and the conditions required by government to adopt a liberal response to HIV and AIDS.

"An unspoken world of unspoken things": a study identifying and exploring core beliefs underlying self-stigma among people living with HIV and AIDS in Ireland.

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) related self-stigma--negative self-judgements resulting in shame, worthlessness and self-blame - negatively influences access to care and treatment, and overall quality of life for people living with HIV (PLHIV). Despite evidence that high levels of self-stigma exist among PLHIV, and is experienced to a far greater extent than stigma received from the broader community, there is a paucity of research aimed at understanding causes and functions of self-stigma, and an absence of interventions to mitigate its harmful effects. Understanding the core beliefs underlying self-stigma is therefore essential. This pilot study used a qualitative approach to analyse interviews and written statements to uncover core beliefs underlying self-stigma, the functions thereof, and strategies used to overcome it, among a heterogeneous group of PLHIV in Ireland. Core beliefs underlying HIV-related self-stigma were uncovered and grouped into four categories: disclosure; sexuality and sexual pleasure; self-perception; and body, illness and death. Reported functions of self-stigma included contributing to maintaining a "victim" status; providing protection against stigma received from others; and justifying non-disclosure of HIV status. To cope with self-stigma, participants highlighted: community involvement and professional development; personal development; and connection to others and sense of belonging. Findings were also used to create a conceptual framework. This study helps fill identified gaps in knowledge about self-stigma as experienced by PLHIV. By understanding the core beliefs driving self-stigma, it will be possible to create targeted interventions to challenge and overcome such beliefs, supporting PLHIV to achieve improved wellbeing and lead productive lives free of self-limitation and self-judgement.

Performing POZ: Irish Theatre, HIV Stigma, and ‘Post-AIDS’ Identities

This essay interrogates how the theatre of Queer monologist Neil Watkins challenges HIV-stigma, while simultaneously reconciling his Queerness and HIV-positivity with a sense of Irishness. The development of life-saving drugs for the treatment of HIV means that, in certain parts of the world, including Ireland, people are no longer dying from AIDS, but living with HIV. This has given rise to what cultural commentators call a ‘Post-AIDS’ discourse, whereby a discourse of crisis and death has evolved into one of health and typical life expectancy. In terms of being ‘post-AIDS’, Ireland bifurcates into two paradoxical socio-cultural discourses: that of HIV as a medical event, and that of AIDS as a cultural narrative. And while the discourse surrounding HIV the medical event is progressive and democratic, the cultural narrative of AIDS in Ireland is steeped in stigma, ignorance, and contagion paranoia. This damaging narrative is mirrored and embodied in Irish theatre. Interrogating Irish theatre's contentious relationship with the HIV-positive body reveals persistent themes of absence, hiddenness, illness, and death. Neil Watkins disrupts this dramaturgy of shame by mobilizing HIV-stigma to political effect, disrupting received knowledge and cultural assumptions about the HIV-positive body and its current theatrical placement within an anachronistic discourse of crisis. In earlier monologues such as A Cure for Homosexuality (2005) Watkins blurs the lines between the fictional HIV-positive character and the living performer, engendering a troubling tension for the spectator. With his latest work, The Year of Magical Wanking (2010) Watkins further evolves this space whereby the boundaries between character and performer are completely negated. By journeying through Watkins's ‘magical’ year of quotidian HIV-stigma and sexual shame, the spectator discovers the roots of such shame and stigma are not only embedded in Irish socio-political structures, but also in a limiting and narrow heteronormative sexual imaginary.

Discrimination of Those Livining with HIV and AIDS in Ireland

John Williams POZ Ireland The protection of persons with HIV or AIDS in Ireland is confined to isolated measures of limited scope. HIV and AIDS discrimination occurs in issues of: Confidentiality, Financial & Insurance, Employment, Medical, Education and Social. Confidentiality: Breaches in confidentiality are thought necessary to protect the HIV positive person, to protect another individual or to protect the welfare of society. The Medical Council's Guide to ethical Behaviour and Fitness to Practice sections 46.02 and 46.03 allow for breaches in confidentiality. 46.02: Should it appear that the welfare of other health care workers may be properly considered to be endangered, the Council would not consider it to be unethical if those who might be at risk of infection, whilst treating the patient, were to be informed of the risk to themselves. 46.03: In the exceptional circumstances of spouses or other partners being at risk, the need to disclose the position to them might be more pressing, but here again the doctor should urgently seek the patient's consent to disclosure. If this is refused, the doctor may, given the circumstances of the case, consider it a duty to inform the spouse or other partner. If breaches in confidentiality are to be considered, that decision must be made: with a full enquiry into the situation by an expert review panel and not by a single doctor or other health care provider with the person's full permission allowing the HIV person access to legal advice While any intentional transmission of HI V is staunchly repudiated, any right a doctor may consider he/she has to inform another party of that patient's HIV status, and to be able to make that decision alone is too volatile a position to safely adopt.

Whose Development? Framing of Ireland's Aid Communities by Institutional Sources and the Media During and After the Celtic Tiger

IN SEPTEMBER  THE GOVERNMENT’S newly published White Paper on Irish Aid was presented to the media and the public as a statement of Ireland’s new position in, and increased responsibilities to, the international community. The economic success of the Celtic Tiger era had endowed the State not only with the means but also with the obligation to strengthen its aid commitments to developing nations. The White Paper outlined an ambitious strategy: Irish Aid would administer the overseas aid budget (OAB) to direct development assistance to nine ‘programme’ countries, seven in Africa and two in Asia. Smaller amounts of aid would go to ‘other aid recipient countries’ in Europe, Africa, Latin America and Asia. In implementing the strategy, Irish Aid would develop partnerships with and allocate funding to non-governmental organisations (NGOs), multilateral organisations and the governments of developing countries. The White Paper committed the Government to raising the OAB to .% of Gross National Product (GNP) by . On reaching this level, Government projections anticipated an annual OAB of about €.bn. However, supporting developing nations was not central to how the White Paper and the OAB were framed by Government sources or in the subsequent media coverage. Rather, the central frames were Ireland’s growing ‘status’ and ‘wealth’ during the Celtic Tiger – economically, socially, and internationally. The OAB, in particular, was linked to ‘what it meant to be Irish in the st Century’. The assumptions underpinning the frames originated with Government sources and passed through the media largely unquestioned and unchallenged. Coverage of the White Paper highlighted the media’s dependency on the Government as a provider of information and authoritative sources. It also illustrated

Ireland's Foreign Aid in 2002

This paper reviews Ireland's official development assistance (ODA) programme during 2002. It opens with an overview of events at global and European levels, including international conferences and negotiations, and follows with an overview of official aid flows from DAC donors, indicating an increase in real terms of 4.8% compared with 2001. Irish official aid also grew strongly, but the outturn was below target-less than what the government announced it would be after cuts had been made during the summer of 2002, and even less than what had been estimated in this review last year. The paper provides data on total ODA for selected years since 1993 and a detailed breakdown of bilateral and multilateral aid expenditures for 2000, 2001 and 2002, comparing budgets with outturns under each of the main expenditure headings. Budgets for 2003 are also presented. The report of the Ireland Aid Review Committee was published during 2002; its main recommendations and follow-up to date are analysed in the paper.

Evaluation of HIV/AIDS prevention through peer education, counselling, health care, training and urban refuges in Ghana

Since 1996, Ireland Aid has supported UNICEF Ghana in the implementation of five activities that promote behaviour change to limit the spread of HIV/AIDS and STIs. The interventions are run by different local organisations, and have provided over 75,000 in and out-of-school youth and commercial sex workers with preventive education. People retained the information given, are knowledgeable about how HIV is transmitted, and can name key preventive methods. They pass on the information to their friends. Commercial sex workers were empowered to support one another in negotiating for safer sex. The programme was supported by community members, leading to demand for condoms and for education on HIV/AIDS/STIs. One project gave support to pregnant girls, including health care and vocational training. A drawback in the programme has been the occasional delays in the supply of the educational materials to the peer educators.

Ireland's Foreign Aid in 2001

This paper reviews Ireland's official aid programme during 2001. It opens with an overview of global aid flows, noting that there was an overall reduction of over €2.3 billion by DAC donors last year. In contrast, Irish aid continued to grow strongly. Indications regarding growth in the medium term suggest that in 2001 the government remains strongly committed to meeting the UN target of 0.7% of gross national income (GNI) by the end of 2007. This paper provides data on total official development assistance (ODA) for selected years since 1992 and a detailed breakdown of bilateral and multilateral aid expenditures for 1999, 2000 and 2001, comparing budgets with outturns under each of the main expenditure headings. Budgets for 2002 are also presented. Because of the deterioration in the public finances in 2002, cutbacks in expenditure were instituted across a wide range of government departments, and the aid budget was one of those significantly affected. The 2002 budgets presented here reflect these cuts, and the paper attempts to assess their implications in relation to the 2002 interim aid target. During 2001 the Ireland Aid Review Committee conducted an analysis of the Irish aid programme and examined a wide range of policy options for the future. The report of the committee was published in April 2002. Although the report is somewhat outside the timeframe of this paper, reference is made here to some of its more important recommendations.

Survival with AIDS in Ireland

To analyse the pattern of survival for patients diagnosed with AIDS in Dublin. Data on 193 patients visiting the Department of Genitourinary Medicine of a Dublin Hospital, over a period of 7 years with AIDS, were analysed, and survival patterns were investigated. The cumulative probability of survival for the cohort was 69.0 +/- 3.3% at 1 year and 6.5 +/- 2.5% at 5 years. Median survival was 576 days. Year of diagnosis and disease group to which the patient belonged at diagnosis had a significant influence on the survival of the cohort (P < 0.0006 and P < 0.02, respectively). Age group, disease group, and year of diagnosis showed significant differences between strata (P < 0.01, P < 0.002, and P < 0.04, respectively). Patients aged 35-39 years showed longer median survival times (715 days) than all other age groups (median survival = 547 days; P < 0.04). Patients whose disease group at diagnosis was opportunistic disease(s) alone (Centers for Disease Control 1987 criteria, stage IV group C1) had a significantly longer median survival (672 days) than all others (median survival 281 days; P < 0.0002). Survival did not differ significantly by sex or risk group alone, nor did it differ significantly by manifestation of disease when grouped according to recognised criteria. Treatment with antiretroviral therapy had a significant influence on the survival of the cohort (P < 0.0002), and the treatment group showed a significant difference between strata (P < 0.0002). This result must be qualified by the fact that, first, 11 of the 26 patients not receiving therapy died within 1 month of diagnosis and people who survived longer had a greater chance of beginning treatment, and that, secondly, criteria for antiretroviral therapy allocation were not entirely clear. The overall survival time found by this study is comparable to that found in other studies in developed countries of the survival of persons with AIDS. Patterns of survival for age groups and manifestation of disease show some contrasting features, mainly owing to the demographic profile of the patients and the high proportion of intravenous drug users.

AIDS in Ireland: the reporting delay distribution and the implementation of integral equation models.

This paper deals with two basic aspects concerning the modelling of AIDS incidence in the context of Irish data. We describe initially the adjustment of the number of AIDS cases (Xij) to allow for reporting delays, where a simple form of the likelihood function for the Xij is supported by GLIM. Subsequently, we consider the accessibility of numerical solution (through a NAG routine) of the integral equation models generated by the back-projection method for the adjusted AIDS cases. Results for the Irish data are summarized for various choices of the incidence distribution.

National survey on public knowledge of AIDS in Ireland

National survey on public knowledge of AIDS in Ireland