A lack of access to publicly-funded fertility treatment in Ireland for HIV-positive patients, due to laboratories equipped to carry out procedures for this group, has been criticised by a fertility patient.
While publicly fertility treatment was made available in Ireland in 2023 for the first time (see BioNews 1200), Ainara Pederoso and her husband Peter have discovered they are unable to access publicly-funded IVF as no laboratories are set up to carry out the procedure for HIV-positive people, the BBC reported. This is as laboratories need to be set up to avoid possible cross-contamination from samples, though Pederoso notes she has an undetectable viral load due to HIV treatment she is taking.
Health Service Executive told the BBC it was reviewing its practices in light of advances in HIV treatment and released a statement that said: 'It is important to note that no patient living with HIV is being denied treatment' as because eligible patients can get funding for treatment abroad.
Pederoso said she understood her and her husband did not meet the requirements for publicly funded treatment abroad.
Last year the UK Government announced changes allowing HIV-positive individuals to donate gametes to people they knew, overturning a previous ban (see BioNews 1213). This followed a campaign by the National AIDS Trust, supported by PET (the Progress Educational Trust), the charity that publishes BioNews.
