HIV/AIDS in Australia
As a result, despite significant numbers of at-risk group members contracting the virus in the early period following its discovery, Australia achieved and has maintained a low rate of HIV infection in comparison to the rest of the world.
AIDS is no longer considered an epidemic or a public health issue in Australia, due to the success of anti-retroviral drugs and extremely low HIV-to-AIDS progression rates.
As the first significant media account in the country, the programme's large audience reach caused it to have wide impact.
The state and territory AIDS councils, along with the national peak organisations representing at-risk groups: the Australian Injecting & Illicit Drug Users League (AIVL) - formerly the Australian IV League, the National Association of People with HIV Australia (NAPWHA), Anwernekenhe National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV/AIDS Alliance (ANA), the Scarlet Alliance, and the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), all contribute actively to Australia's response to HIV.
[16] The Foundation had its origins in a network of friends who organised care for Goldsmith to allow him to live independently during his illness, until his death in June 1984.
A 1993 article by Brisbane newspaper columnist Lawrie Kavanagh, in which he alleged a HIV education and support program for gay youth was government-sponsored recruitment for "a sewer practice," provoked a crowd 'Die-In' protest outside the offices of The Courier Mail.
The Bobby Goldsmith Foundation reports that nearly a third of people with HIV/AIDS in New South Wales (the state with the largest infected population) are living below the poverty line.
[20][21] The Centre of Social Research in Health also reported rising stigma and discrimination against people who inject drugs illicitly reducing access to testing, treatment and care.
[23][24] After the initial success in limiting the spread of HIV, infection rates began to rise again in Australia, though they remained low by global standards.
[25] Transmission continued to be predominantly through sexual contact between men, in contrast to many high-prevalence countries in which it was increasingly spread through heterosexual sex.
[30] In 2016, the Australian government and AFAO announced that AIDS was no longer a public health crisis given the decline in numbers of new cases and the availability of treatment.
[31] The Australian health policy response to HIV/AIDS has been characterised as emerging from the grassroots rather than top-down, and as involving a high degree of partnership between government and non-government stakeholders.
[32] The capacity of these groups to respond early and effectively was instrumental in lowering infection rates before government-funded prevention programs were operational.
[36][37] The willingness of the Australian government to use mainstream media to deliver a blunt message through advertising was credited as contributing to Australia's success in managing HIV.
[40] Australian Governments began in the mid-1980s to pilot or support programs involving needle exchange for intravenous drug users.
This led Australian governments and non-government organisations to place an increasing emphasis on international initiatives, particularly aimed at limiting the spread of the disease.
[47] The case of Andre Chad Parenzee, convicted in 2006 and unsuccessfully appealed in 2007, secured widespread media attention as a result of expert testimony given by a Western Australian medical physicist that HIV did not lead to AIDS.
[47][48][49] In February 2008, Hector Smith, aged 41, a male prostitute in the Australian Capital Territory who is HIV-positive, pleaded guilty in the ACT Magistrates Court to providing a commercial sexual service while knowing he was infected with a sexually-transmitted disease (STD) and failing to register as a sex worker.
However HIV positive individuals may still be denied immigration visas on the grounds that their treatment takes up limited resources and is a burden for taxpayers.
[58][59] The Australian Red Cross Blood Service have indicated their concern regarding the possible transmission of HIV and noting they are receptive to a reduction in the deferral period.
[62] The most common form of transmissions of HIV is through blood, semen, pre-ejaculation, rectal mucus, vaginal fluids and breast milk.
[63] Often, behaviours that lead to women contracting the HIV virus include engagement in sexual intercourse within a heterosexual relation with someone who already has HIV/AIDS, using drugs intravenously or receiving infected blood products.
Therefore, in 2009, 73.6% of women diagnosed with HIV/AIDS reported unwanted disclosure of their health status due to a lack of awareness and knowledge about the disease.
[68] The Sydney Mardi Gras, one of the largest street parades and gay and lesbian events in the world,[69] has HIV/AIDS as a significant theme, and is one of a number of pathways through which the non-government sector in Australia continues to address the disease.
[82] The Open Society Foundation launched the "To Protect and Serve How Police, Sex Workers, and People Who Use Drugs Are Joining Forces to Improve Health and Human Rights" report at the conference.
[83] The International AIDS Society (IAS) confirmed that six passengers on board the Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 shot down over Ukraine were killed.
[85] Post-exposure prophylaxis drugs are generally available in Australia at a subsidised cost through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
