HIV charity referrals surge last year
Positive Life has revealed that the number of people here availing of its services has almost doubled in just one year.
Last updated 22nd Jul 2018
By Sarah McKinley
Although the number of beneficiaries has soared, the level of funding has stayed the same as a result of the collapsed devolved government - and the Belfast based charity is feeling the financial squeeze.
Jacquie Richardson is Positive Life’s Chief executive.
She told Downtown/CoolFM one reason is that one fifth of people who have HIV are living oblivious to their condition and Positive life say this stems from the fact that the topic is so infrequently talked about in schools.
As HIV figures are falling across the water in England, Mrs Richardson believes the reason there has been a rise in Northern Ireland is a lack of comprehensive education coming from the taboos of a “conservative community”.
“Stigma in Northern Ireland is a huge barrier to people accessing information about all thing sexual health. We don’t have conversations in schools and we don’t educate out children to make informed decisions in and around their sexual health. We’re campaigning to change that.”
According to Jacquie, it will be difficult to address these challenges faced and to make impactful changes without a functioning executive at Stormont.
“Without having a working assembly, there’s no appetite for a sexual health strategy and there’s certainly no money to invest in it.”
One man’s answer when asked “what does living with HIV here mean to you?”, was to show how people ignorantly covering their cups with their hand as though he was a leper when they learn of his condition.
Meanwhile, Jacquie spoke of service users who will never share their story with others: “We have people who come in and nobody outside this building knows that they are HIV positive - can you imagine just living with that double life all the time?”
Positive Life say they will still keep putting out the message that a HIV diagnosis is not a life sentence. They can be found online at www.positivelifeni.com