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AFRICA: Africans make up half of Ireland's AIDS cases

[ This report does not necessarily reflect the views of the United Nations]

JOHANNESBURG, 1 June (PLUSNEWS) - More than half of all newly diagnosed cases of HIV/AIDS in Ireland were among immigrants from sub-Saharan Africa, an Irish AIDS conference has heard.

The executive director of the Dublin AIDS Alliance, Ann Nolan, said her organisation had been reluctant to publicise the statistics in case it sparked racism against non-nationals.

Research indicates that while Ireland has had a low HIV/AIDS prevalence rate for a number of years, there was a clear increase each year from 2002.

"We have been reluctant to make this known in the national media, for fear of alienating non-nationals further," Nolan was quoted as saying by the Irish Independent newspaper. "At the end of June last year there were 3,216 diagnosed cases of HIV in Ireland since records began. The research shows that there is every reason to expect a further increase."

[ENDS]

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