A lot has changed in Ireland

A lot has changed in Ireland since World AIDS Day in 1992. At long last, restrictive legislation in relation to the availability of condoms has been dumped. A series of television and radio ads funded by the Department of Health have unequivocally emphasised the role of the condoms in AIDS prevention. And over the past few weeks, condom companies have officially made use of their new freedom to advertise by running campaigns both in Hot Press and on local radio stations around the country.

This is just the most obvious manifestation of a shift that has taken place in the Department of Health’s response to the AIDS crisis on many levels. For a long time a spirit of caution bordering on fear prevailed, with the ‘moral’ ethos of the Roman Catholic Church dominating considerations to the extent that a kind of paralysis took hold. It is a terrible thing to say but I have no doubt that lives have been lost as a result. But finally, at least, the prevailing inertia has been lifted and the emphasis is on meeting the challenge of aids prevention head on, with needle exchange programmes being operated by the Eastern Health Board in Dublin, AIDS education resource materials being made available by the Health Promotion Unit for use in secondary schools, and videos, leaflets and other useful sources of information being provided to libraries, community groups and voluntary bodies.

But while there has been a significant shift in relation to information and education, there are still areas where our response to the AIDS crisis is deeply problematic. In particular, the impression which HIV activists, and those who are HIV positive, convey is that their treatment by the medical establishment here is often inadequate and can sometimes be downright callous. There is still a belief among those in the AIDS community that many Irish people coming close to the final stages of the illness feel that it is better to go to London – where facilities are better, and the treatment is more dignified – to die. And that is simply not acceptable.

The prevailing, widespread suspicion of those who are HIV positive has certainly been diminished – but it still exists where knowledge of how the virus can and cannot be transmitted should be at its most sophisticated, in hospitals and among medical staff. It is a perception which is confirmed by the unwillingness of medical personnel and hospitals to insist that body bags should not be used to ‘wrap’ HIV positive people who have died except in the most extreme circumstances – specifically, that is, where blood has been shed, or there is some other immediate cause of the outpouring of bodily fluids.

Dignity, support, love, tenderness, respect, care – this is what those who are HIV positive, and those who are dying of AIDS-related illnesses want, need, and deserve. It is what we should give them unequivocally. To do less is to betray everything that is worthwhile in being human.

• Niall Stokes, Editor