Ireland: HIV stigma persists despite progress as stories of migrant women reveal gaps

“Because of stigma and discrimination, and as a woman in a foreign country, you don’t want to be seen as a woman living with HIV,” she says.

“I think, because of all the things happening here in Ireland, the far right being against migrants — and definitely we stand out because of our skin — they would attack us.”

The campaign, Glow Red – Let’s Get to Zero HIV Stigma, features advocate Rebecca Tallon De Havilland alongside HIV activists and migrant women, some living with HIV, others not, to show how stigma persists in Ireland.

“This year’s accompanying banner message on the photo is ‘HIV doesn’t discriminate. Neither should we. Unmask stigma’,” says Stephen O’Hare, director of HIV Ireland. He said the new campaign highlights that HIV stigma is a barrier for women as well as men. “It hits women harder, and particularly women of colour who can face intersectional barriers and discrimination such as HIV stigma, misogyny, sexism and racism.”

There were 989 cases diagnosed in Ireland in 2024; 74% were among people born outside Ireland, with 23% born in Ireland and 3% unknown. A new report from the Health Protection Surveillance Centre said: “Since 2022, there has been a steady increase in rates among women while rates among men have remained stable.”

Professor Fiona Lyons, national clinical lead at the HSE Sexual Health Programme, said research has found late diagnosis is often related to fear of diagnosis and stigma.

“Being diagnosed late means a person may have had HIV for some time before they are diagnosed, and it has already started to damage their immune system,” she said.

Marina (not her real name), who arrived in Ireland from Malawi nearly two decades ago to study, was diagnosed in 2018 when she was in the late stages of the disease. In the last five years, she has experienced a change in attitudes in Ireland and repeated racism, mostly while travelling on public transport.

​She now finds herself adjusting her behaviour to avoid confrontation. “Before five years ago, we were comfortable, we were OK. I have a partner, he’s Irish, and I felt at home. But nowadays, when we walk, we’re watching, you know, who’s coming behind. What if they just beat you up for no reason? On the Luas or the train, we might even give up our seats to people just because you don’t want anyone to say something to you,” she says.

She explains that her late-stage diagnosis came after months of worsening symptoms and missed chances.

“When I was diagnosed in 2018, I was just finishing my course of four years, and the last month was very hard, because I didn’t know I was living with HIV.”

The night before her last exam she realised something was seriously wrong. “I read the whole night, but in the morning, everything was gone.”

Despite volunteering at a sexual health service, GOSHH, she was blindsided by her diagnosis.

“I was sitting at the reception every day, ushering people to come in and test. And I never did, not even once, think about testing,” she adds.

“Not everyone knows how they got HIV. I don’t know how I got it.”

When she finally went to her GP reporting exhaustion, flu-like symptoms and her inability to retain information, blood tests were done, but not for HIV.

Instead, an abnormally high platelet count prompted an oncology referral to rule out cancer. Eight months later, with no clear diagnosis and her platelet levels now normal, she sat in front of a Sudanese doctor who was preparing to discharge her from the service.

She protested that she wasn’t fine. “I feel like I’ve got the flu all the time, I’m always tired nowadays, also I feel like my neck is carrying a mountain,” she explained to the doctor.

Listening intently, the doctor asked whether anyone had ever checked her CD4 count — a key HIV marker. Looking back, Marina believes that the doctor recognised the signs instantly.

Two weeks later, she was told she was HIV-positive. Today, she says her medical treatment has completely reversed those debilitating symptoms. “All of a sudden, everything changed, and I started becoming OK.”

Mr O’Hare explains that 50pc of first-time diagnoses in 2023 were among the heterosexual population, a shift from the traditional perception that HIV primarily affects gay men.

“The total number of people living with HIV, pre-pandemic in Ireland, was estimated to be about 8,000, but since the pandemic, and since the change in demographics, including inward migration and the war in Ukraine, you’re probably seeing in excess of 10,000 people now in Ireland with HIV.”

He is calling for Ireland to follow the UK in rolling out opt-out HIV testing in emergency departments.

“They’ve had great success in identifying cases that were unknown. Ireland could follow suit,” he adds.​