Vol. 473 No. 1
39 Ms O'Donnell asked the Minister for Health the proposals, if any, he has to introduce unlinked HIV testing of all blood samples in order to provide more reliable data on the level of HIV in the general population as is currently the practice in our larger maternity hospitals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24514/96]
Limerick East): Unlinked anonymous HIV testing programmes are used as a means of confirming that the information produced by voluntary testing is giving a true indication of the prevalence of the disease. Where such programmes have been introduced internationally they have been aimed at particular target populations such as women of child-bearing age and people who are attending sexually transmitted diseases clinics and who are obviously sexually active. Unlinked screening of the population at large by the testing of all blood samples would be pointless, because they would not necessarily be from representative sections of the population and the costs involved would be considerable.
The testing carried out in maternity hospitals and units to which the Deputy refers is, in fact, part of a programme of anonymous unlinked testing, which was recommended by the Surveillance Sub-Committee of the National AIDS Strategy Committee. The report on the results of the first three years of this screening programme has been prepared. The programme was conducted over a three year period from October 1992 to December 1995, in all major maternity hospitals. Out of a total of 160,679 tests, 25 were confirmed HIV positive, giving a rate of 0.016 per cent, confirming a lower prevalence in this population group than in other European countries.
