No screening as HIV on rise
Sunday September 28 2003
THE Government insists that it will not introduce mandatory health screening for non-nationals entering Ireland despite new figures showing a significant rise in HIV infection.
The National Disease Surveillance Centre found one in two of the newly-diagnosed cases of HIV infection were among people from sub-Saharan Africa.
Most of the increased new cases of HIV diagnosed last year were among heterosexuals and most of these were women, recent figures revealed. In all, there were 364 new cases of HIV diagnosed here last year, an increase of 22 per cent compared to 2001.
More than 63 per cent of these were among heterosexuals and eight children were found to have the infection, the report said.
There were also 119 babies born to HIV-positive mothers whose infection status was indeterminate.
The Department of Health operates an ante-natal screening programme to pick up cases of the disease in pregnant women.
The number of new cases of HIV among gay men fell from 73 to 46, but there was a rise in the level of injecting drug users who were found to be positive - up from 38 to 50.
A free infectious-disease screening service is provided for asylum seekers after their arrival in this country but the service is both voluntary and confidential.
The tests screen for TB, Hepatitis B, Polio and the Varicella Zoster virus. HIV testing is also offered.
More than two-thirds of asylum seekers arriving in Dublin last year agreed to the voluntary health checks.
A spokesperson for the Minister for Health said that the Government would not be making the screening compulsory.
A government source said the feeling was that mandatory testing on entry into the country would breach human-rights obligations.
