This edition of HIV Australia focuses on HIV and culturally diverse communities.

Authors explore the impact of cultural norms and values on perceptions and experiences of HIV, sexuality and health, and discuss the myriad other challenges faced by people living with HIV from culturally diverse backgrounds. Contributors also outline a range of available services and resources targeting culturally and linguistically diverse communities in Australia.

Browse articles below or download as a PDF (1.5 MB)

News and commentary

Facing up to reality: the United Nations adopts a new global plan to end AIDS Bill Whittaker traces the development and adoption of the historic new UN Declaration on HIV/AIDS

Legal Update: Neal v The Queen MICHAEL WILLIAMS unpacks some key elements of the recent appeal judgment of a landmark case involving criminal transmission of HIV, and the implications of the decision for future legal cases

HIV: the absent agenda item: Report-back on the Sydney meeting of Commonwealth Law Ministers This article only available online

HIV and cultural diversity

What’s the ‘problem’? Current issues in defining HIV among people from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds in Australia Tadgh McMahon and Barbara Luisi debate conceptual issues relating to HIV and CALD communities in Australia

Myth-understandings: Issues relating to HIV and cultural understanding Zhihong Gu explains how cultural understanding is vital to effective health promotion responses to HIV and sexual health

‘We didn’t leave it in Africa’: Okello’s story

Achina's story This article only available online

Lola's story This article only available online

Building the capacity of the HIV sector in Australia: taking a culturally competent approach Gai Stackpool and Barbara Luisi outline the framework of cultural competency

Behind the mask: Asian gay men and challenges in HIV health promotion Min Fuh Teh discusses the challenges of being Asian and gay, highlighting health promotion initiatives for Asian gay men in Australia

HIV and the social exclusion of culturally and linguistically diverse men who have sex with men Daniel Reeders explores the link between discrimination, exclusion and sexual risk-taking, and asks how we can respond to the needs of culturally diverse men who have sex with men

Top Tips: new booklets for HIV-positive people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds Ben Wilcock profiles a new series of translated resources for people living with HIV

Perceptions of HIV risk and protection among people from CALD backgrounds in Sydney: findings from CALD periodic survey and the late diagnosis study Augustine Asante and Henrike Körner report on findings from two studies into HIV and CALD communities in Sydney

Making sexual health hip Cara Brough, Chiedza Malunga and Dan Walls outline two innovative sexual health programs for culturally diverse young people

‘It Feels Like A Second Home.’ James May recounts three stories of people from diverse backgrounds about their experiences of living with HIV

Returning to the homeland: a means of addressing heroin issues for Vietnamese-Australian young people and families Naomi C K Ngo presents an overview of her research into an approach to drug addiction employing place and culture as a driver for rehabilitation.

Regulars

Regional feature: HIV and the law in Papua New Guinea By Tim Leach.

Web Watch: Multicultural HIV/AIDS and Hepatitis C Service (MHAHS).

Book review: HIV is God’s Blessing: Rehabilitating Morality in Neoliberal Russia. Abigail Groves reviews a new book by Jarrett Zigon which examines the plight of HIV-positive people in Russia.

Resource profile (PDF, 276 KB) A selection of relevant Australian health resources in community languages and/or plain English. Full version only available online