Marcella Corcoran Kennedy (Offaly, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy for giving me the opportunity to update the House on this issue. In 2015, 485 people were newly diagnosed with HIV in Ireland, an increase of 30% compared to 2014. The increase was mainly confined to HSE east. A number of factors contributed to the increase in HSE east, including an improvement to the national surveillance case definition introduced in January 2015, which resulted in improved sensitivity and timeliness and an increased number of notifications. There was also an outbreak of HIV among people who inject drugs and an increase in diagnoses among non-EU men who have sex with men.

In 2016 a national. multi-sectoral group was established by the HSE HPSC to investigate the reasons for, and respond to, the increases in HIV, syphilis and gonorrhoea. Clinicians, HSE public health, the HPSC, addiction services and the non-governmental organisations are all contributing to the group. The group is working with the Gay Health Network and Positive Now to encourage the use of condoms and regular HIV and sexually transmitted illness, STI, testing via man2man.ie, social media and community outreach among the MSM community.

The National Sexual Health Strategy 2015-2020 was launched in October 2015. The strategy was developed in response to a recommendation of the national AIDS strategy committee on the need to establish clear leadership within the health sector around the area of sexual health. At the launch of the strategy, the Department provided funding for the KnowNow pilot. This is a peer-led, point-of-care HIV testing initiative in pubs and clubs. The pilot has had considerable success in identifying new cases of HIV. As we all know, earlier diagnosis of HIV allows for timely initiation of treatment, which confers significant benefits on the individual living with HIV and reduces transmission within the population. The HSE is reviewing how this method of testing might be developed in 2017.

The National Sexual Health Strategy 2015 to 2020 contains 71 recommendations that address all aspects of sexual health and the sexual health action plan for 2015 to 2016 contains 18 priority actions for immediate attention. One of the priority actions identified in the action plan for 2016 is to "prioritise, develop and implement guidance to support clinical decision making for STI testing, screening and treatment and on the appropriate use of antiretroviral therapy in HIV prevention". An implementation group has been established within the HSE as an outcome of this action. The group will make recommendations on the appropriate use of HIV PrEP in the overall context of the national approach to HIV prevention. It is intended that work will start on a national demonstration project in 2017.

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