Jerry Buttimer (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I encourage Members of the House to wear the glow red badge or lapel pin for World AIDS Day on 1 December.In the 40 years since 1982, we have made gargantuan progress yet we have a road to travel still. As a nation and as a world, we are still fighting the stigma of HIV and we are standing up for people living with this illness. I ask the Minister of Health who has responsibility for the national health strategy to come to the House to have a debate on the new sexual health strategy. I ask this out of concern that the new national health strategy will be prolonged further by the consultative period, which I fear will not be open to a wider community engagement. For a national sexual health strategy to be successful, it needs to engage properly and meaningfully with the wider community and not just a public call for consultation.

I commend HIV Ireland and the Sexual Health Centre in Cork on the work they do on ending the stigma. The figures for 2021 will show a decline but the figures published by the Health Protection Surveillance Centre show an increase this year, primarily due to inward migration of people previously diagnosed with HIV-AIDS. For those people living with HIV who experience stigma, we stand with them as a society and a nation tomorrow. Stigma, as we know, arises from a variety of reasons. Sadly - and I am not the victim here - comments will be passed on my social media accounts because of my contribution today and for standing up and advocating for people. I appeal to all Members of the House and the wider public to wear the badge tomorrow as we glow red for World AIDS Day.