AIDS sector slams drop in funding

The government must provide a stronger commitment to the national HIV response if we are to stop the ongoing rise in new infections, Australia’s peak HIV organisations have said.

AFAO and ACON have called on all levels of government to provide stronger commitment and increased funding for HIV campaigns, in light of new figures from the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology which show a 5 percent increase in new HIV infection rates.

Over 2007 there were a total of 1051 new infections, indicating a rise in numbers across all the states, except for NSW.

AFAO executive director Don Baxter said the poor figures were directly attributable to the drop in government HIV funding over the last decade.

These relentless increases show that our current investments in HIV programs are just not sufficient to reverse the rate of HIV infections in Australia; we’re still heading in the wrong direction, he said.

It was a call to action that was echoed by ACON CEO Stevie Clayton.

ACON joins AFAO in calling on all governments, especially the federal government, to increase base funding levels in order to reverse the direction of Australia’s HIV infection rate, Clayton said.

I commend the NSW Government on its commitment to funding HIV prevention and encourage other state governments as well as the Commonwealth Government to emulate the level of support we receive in NSW.

What we need to improve our response to the epidemic is strong and effective national leadership as well as services and programs that are adequately financed and resourced.