Community HIV Projects Around Australia Awarded $200k In Grants

Six HIV community ​organisations across the country have been awarded $200,000 from ViiV Healthcare Australia through its annual Positive Action Community Grants program.

Now entering its 11th year, the Australian Positive Action Community Grants program supports targeted, community-driven initiatives designed to address these barriers by empowering underrepresented groups and helping to drive lasting change.

Established globally in 1992, the Positive Action Community Grant program was introduced in Australia in 2015, and has delivered approximately $2 million to more than 50 community-led HIV projects nationwide.

This year’s projects focus on reaching people most affected by, or at risk of HIV, with a strong emphasis on communities that can be underrepresented in care and education, including multicultural communities, women, and First Nations people living with HIV.

The recipients include Living Posi​tive Victoria, The National Association of People with HIV Australia, Positive Life NSW, Tasmanian Council on AIDS, Hepatitis and Related Diseases, Thorne Harbour Health and WA AIDS Council.

Sealing the gaps in HIV prevention and treatment

Researchers and advocates hope to virtually eliminate domestic HIV transmissions by 2030, but have emphasised time and time again the importance of addressing persistent inequities to ensure people aren’t left behind or slip through the cracks.

“Community-led solutions, grounded in lived experience and strengthened through genuine partnership with diverse communities are critical to addressing barriers to care, providing peer-led education, visibility and helping to improve quality of life for all people living with HIV,” said Community Engagement and Partnerships Manager at ViiV Healthcare Australia, Ann Maccarrone. “The recipients of the 2025 Positive Action Community Grant program are powerful examples of how that change is built and sustained within communities.

“The recipients have been selected for their ongoing commitment to addressing gaps in HIV-related knowledge in priority populations, enhancing relationships between healthcare providers and people living with HIV, and improving the quality of life for all people living with HIV.”

Positive Life NSW will be using the grant to launch ‘Kitchen Table Stories’, a peer-led initiative using food and culture to spark open, culturally affirming HIV conversations in Latin American, Asian and African communities.

“Some of the most effective HIV responses already exist within communities themselves,’ said CEO Jane Costello.

“People from Latin American, Asian and African backgrounds have long supported one another through family, culture and shared experience. ‘Kitchen Table Stories’ creates space for those strengths to be recognised and shared in a peer-led setting. By coming together over food and conversation, participants exchange knowledge, build trust and strengthen peer connections in culturally familiar ways. The program shows how community-led, relationship-based approaches play a vital role in improving wellbeing and supporting positive health outcomes.”

Meanwhile, Thorne Harbour Health will be strengthening First Nations HIV peer support through ‘Mob+’, a culturally safe peer-support initiative to reflect the unique experiences of First Nations people living with HIV.

Stephen Borg, Manager of Thorne Harbour Health’s Positive Living Centre said that equitable health outcomes for people living with HIV can only be achieved when First Nations voices are embedded at the centre of the HIV response.

“’Mob+’ is a peer-led, culturally safe space designed by and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with HIV,” he said. “This funding enables us to grow a model grounded in trust, connection, and self-determination — strengthening peer support, reducing isolation, and creating pathways to better health and wellbeing.”