AFAO Media Release | 6 April 2009

AFAO welcomes changed priorities in new AusAID HIV Strategy

The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) today welcomed the announcement by Foreign Affairs Minister Stephen Smith that Australia's international contribution to the fight against HIV would be re-calibrated in line with the changed priorities identified in AusAID’s new HIV Strategy.

Minister Smith launched the new AusAID Strategy, titled "Intensifying the response: Halting the spread of HIV – Australia’s international development strategy for HIV", at a media conference today.

“The government’s new Strategy recognizes that the rapidly escalating HIV infections among gay men and other men who have sex with other men (MSM) in all major cities in Asia are becoming the major driver of expanding epidemics in the region”, said Don Baxter, AFAO’s Executive Director.

“We welcome the government’s recognition of this newly emerging priority and look forward to some rapid funding allocations to intervene in these emerging epidemics while they are still potentially controllable “, Baxter said.

Baxter said the epidemiological evidence has become very clear: projections of new HIV infections contained in the authoritative report prepared by the Commission on AIDS in Asia demonstrate that sex between men in Asia will contribute more than 46% of new HIV infections in the region by 2020 unless programs and investment are substantially upgraded.

“Australia’s contribution to HIV funding and expertise in the Asia Pacific region over the last decade has been considerable – but investment in gay/MSM programs has been minimal,” Baxter said. “This new Strategy should guide re-calibration of those investments”’ he said.

Baxter said AFAO welcomed the ‘Scoping study on MSM and HIV’ which AusAID had already put in place but said decisions on its recommendations need to be made rapidly as ‘the virus is not sitting round waiting for us all to get our act together’.

Mr Baxter said that in 2007, one in ten newly reported infections in Australia were originally diagnosed overseas, according to the HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis and sexually transmissible infections in Australia Annual Surveillance Report.