AQW 18356/22-27


Ms Kellie Armstrong
Alliance Party
Strangford


Tabled Date: 18/11/2024
Answered On Date: 03/12/2024
Priority Written: No


Question:
To ask the Minister of Health to detail any measures being taken to address the stigma associated with HIV, which can place a significant mental health burden on people living with the virus.


Answer:
The Sexual Health Action Plan, launched in November 2023, aims to co-ordinate the ongoing direction for sexual health improvement in Northern Ireland. One of the key objectives of the Action Plan is to ‘Strive to eliminate new HIV transmissions in Northern Ireland and support people living with HIV to live well’.
During my address at the recent 29th Northern Ireland Regional Sexual Health Conference, I emphasised the importance of collaboration to ensure that messaging around HIV and sexual health are consistent and widespread. Through the Sexual Health Action Plan, an overarching communications group has been established to deliver a programme of awareness raising activities, focused around four key annual events across sexual health and wellbeing. One of these events is World Aids Day on 1 December. The joint focus of messaging in Northern Ireland will be on striving to eliminate HIV transmission and tackling stigma. To raise awareness, a communications plan sets out a schedule for social media activity to encourage and maximise sharing, engagement and awareness on agreed campaign messages. A press release and communications toolkit have also been developed and disseminated via stakeholders.
Although HIV treatment has come a long way over the years, fear and misinformation remain prevalent in our society. It is vital that public health messaging is consistent across the region to address misconceptions, and there is more to do in this space. As part of the Sexual Health Action Plan, a delivery group has been established to focus on tackling the transmission of HIV and sexually transmitted infections. The group brings together policy leads, clinicians, health improvement leads and advocates from the community and voluntary sector. Within this, a subgroup has been set up to specifically consider how stigma can be measured and addressed.