Government renews commitment to PLWHIV

The Government has pledged to increase funding to the AIDS sector, in a move which has brought praise from AFAO.

The Federal Health Minister Nicola Roxon this week renewed the Government’s commitment to stopping the spread of HIV, during a speech to mark the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day.

The government is committed to re-invigorating and strengthening our partnership with communities at risk of and living with HIV/AIDS, Roxon said in her speech before announcing that $150,000 would be given to the Albion Street Centre to coordinate a network of 30 regional health centres in the Asia Pacific Region.

It was a move further backed up this week by a new set of funding arrangements through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), which was welcomed by AFAO executive director Don Baxter.

The substantial increases for prevention and for Indigenous health which the Commonwealth has included in the new Health Agreement Specific Purpose Payments will enable all states and territories to reinvest in their HIV prevention and support programs.

There is concern however that the new agreements could lead to the added money being misdirected into other areas.

The new COAG arrangements simplify Commonwealth-State funding arrangements, which we support, Baxter said, but they also roll the HIV and other public health funds into the same funding bucket as the hospitals and without transparent and robust performance indicators we are concerned it could be whittled away over time.