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AIDS epidemic no longer a public health issue in Australia, scientists say
Exclusive by Stephanie Dalzell
Posted Sun at 7:09am
PHOTO: Lloyd Grosse was diagnosed 30 years ago and told he had three years to live. (ABC News: Stephanie Dalzell)
MAP: Sydney 2000
PHOTO: About 1,000 new cases of HIV are reported in Australia each year (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention)
At the time, Mr Grosse began working at the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Australia's oldest HIV and AIDS charity, and was given a list of almost 300 clients who were financially destitute and socially isolated.
"There was one week where I had five friends and seven clients die in a week, so those sorts of things are really, really tough to handle," he said.
Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute, said anti-retroviral medications had been game-changers, allowing someone with HIV to live a long and healthy life.
"I've actually seen a dramatic transformation of HIV from a universal death sentence to now a chronic, manageable disease."
The end of AIDS is not the end of HIV
Despite the progress, researchers are still quick to point out the end of AIDS is not the end of HIV.
About 1,000 new cases of HIV are reported in Australia each year, and those within the sector worry that young people, who did not witness the horrors of the AIDS epidemic during the 80s and 90s, have become complacent.
Professor Lewin said 10 per cent of new diagnoses of HIV in Australia were made of people with advanced HIV infection.
"One of the problems we still have in Australia is people not getting tested, not knowing they're infected with HIV, and turning up for their first test when they already have AIDS, or already have significant immune damage," she said.
Advocates are also setting their sights on the rest of the world, particularly in countries in the Asia-Pacific region, where 180,000 cases of AIDS and 1.2 million cases of HIV are reported each year.
Don Baxter, an international officer at the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, said it was vital Australia continued to support other countries who had not yet beaten the AIDS epidemic.
"We are seeing very few countries actually reducing that rate of infection at this stage, and we don't see the political will of those governments as we've had in Australia," Mr Baxter said.
He said Australia had previously committed $200 million to the Global Fund, set up to distribute resources internationally to target HIV and AIDS, but more was required.
The sentiment was echoed by Professor Lewin.
"We're hoping in September when the fund is replenished our Government will be even more generous than that," she said.
Exclusive by Stephanie Dalzell
Posted Sun at 7:09am
PHOTO: Lloyd Grosse was diagnosed 30 years ago and told he had three years to live. (ABC News: Stephanie Dalzell)MAP: Sydney 2000
PHOTO: About 1,000 new cases of HIV are reported in Australia each year (Centres for Disease Control and Prevention)At the time, Mr Grosse began working at the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Australia's oldest HIV and AIDS charity, and was given a list of almost 300 clients who were financially destitute and socially isolated.
"There was one week where I had five friends and seven clients die in a week, so those sorts of things are really, really tough to handle," he said.
Professor Sharon Lewin, director of the Peter Doherty Institute, said anti-retroviral medications had been game-changers, allowing someone with HIV to live a long and healthy life.
"I've actually seen a dramatic transformation of HIV from a universal death sentence to now a chronic, manageable disease."
The end of AIDS is not the end of HIV
Despite the progress, researchers are still quick to point out the end of AIDS is not the end of HIV.
About 1,000 new cases of HIV are reported in Australia each year, and those within the sector worry that young people, who did not witness the horrors of the AIDS epidemic during the 80s and 90s, have become complacent.
Professor Lewin said 10 per cent of new diagnoses of HIV in Australia were made of people with advanced HIV infection.
"One of the problems we still have in Australia is people not getting tested, not knowing they're infected with HIV, and turning up for their first test when they already have AIDS, or already have significant immune damage," she said.
Advocates are also setting their sights on the rest of the world, particularly in countries in the Asia-Pacific region, where 180,000 cases of AIDS and 1.2 million cases of HIV are reported each year.
Don Baxter, an international officer at the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, said it was vital Australia continued to support other countries who had not yet beaten the AIDS epidemic.
"We are seeing very few countries actually reducing that rate of infection at this stage, and we don't see the political will of those governments as we've had in Australia," Mr Baxter said.
He said Australia had previously committed $200 million to the Global Fund, set up to distribute resources internationally to target HIV and AIDS, but more was required.
The sentiment was echoed by Professor Lewin.
"We're hoping in September when the fund is replenished our Government will be even more generous than that," she said.
