Dr. Denis O'Driscoll:

Recording of HIV and HIV notifications through the HPSC decreased during Covid. There has definitely been an increase because of greater reporting and more people coming forward for treatment and testing. Within certain groups such as MSM and chemsex groups there may be a higher incidence. Post decriminalisation in 2015 using the criminal justice Bill of headshops, we saw a spike in HIV associated with the use of mephedrone at that time.

Where we need to be at is that it is an education piece for migrant population groups. That was particularly seen with recent research from Liverpool John Moores University which found that among non-English speaking groups who used steroids for body building, people did not get the concepts around harm reduction or harm minimisation that we would automatically assume or presume that our audience would understand. They did not understand about sharing "works", etc., and there was a potential issue regarding an increase in incidences, not just of HIV, but other viral illnesses, most notably hepatitis C.