Aids activists warn of 'complacency' on risk

Aids campaigners today called on the Government to develop a national sexual health strategy to tackle the "complacency" among young people about the risks of unsafe sex.

The Dublin Aids Alliance and the Red Ribbon Project in Limerick today unveiled the "Do You Choose It?" campaign aimed at encouraging young people to talk frankly about sex as a way of promoting safe practices.

Dublin Aids Alliance executive director Ann Nolan complained that HIV and Aids have "virtually disappeared off the political agenda" in recent years.

"Despite the economic and cultural transformation of Irish society in recent years, our approach to sexual health is severely under-developed," she said, adding that the Government needs to urgently adopt a National Sexual Health Strategy.

"Coupled with circumstances where sexual transmission of HIV is now the primary route of infection reported in Ireland, and given that HIV is more easily transmitted in the presence of another STI [sexually transmitted infection], we are concerned about the apparent high level of complacency that characterises young people's attitudes," Ms Nolan added.

Ann Mason, director of the Red Ribbon Project, said she hoped the campaign could help challenge the "stigma and silence" that surrounds sexuality and disease in Ireland.

"Unfortunately, we haven't moved on from the fear of an unplanned pregnancy dominating people's worries about unsafe sex when really, people should be equally worried about HIV and/or STIs," she said. "We're sending a clear message to young people, to choose safer sex."

New HIV cases are being reported in Ireland at the rate of nearly one each day. Last year, there were 3,764 people known to be living with HIV in Ireland, while a further 813 cases of Aids were reported. Heterosexual contact accounted for half of all new infections in 2004.

Worldwide, around half of the 15,000 new cases of HIV reported each day are diagnosed in young people aged 15 and 24.

In 2004, there were nearly 11,000 cases of STIs in Ireland; some 70 per cent of all STIs occur in the under 30s. The most recent report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre showed a 12.1 per cent increase in the number of cases between 2003 and 2004.

The 'Do You Choose It?' campaign will comprise widespread advertising on billboards, buses, Darts and in train stations. Postcards and beermats will also be distributed in bars and clubs in Dublin and Limerick, while Durex has donated 50,000 condoms.