NSW HIV rate stable

Australia’s HIV infection rates have risen by a third in the past decade, according to a report by the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology.
However, NSW infection rates have remained stable, with HIV diagnoses decreasing to 5.9 infections per 100,000 people.
Following a long-term decline, the national yearly number of new HIV diagnoses jumped from 763 cases in 2000 to 998 in 2006.
Transmission of HIV in Australia continued to occur primarily through sexual contact between men, the report said. Among new cases of HIV infection, 88 percent reported male homosexual contact.
HIV diagnoses were greatest in Victoria, with rates of infection increasing from 2.9 per 100,000 people in 1998-1999, to 5.6 in 2006.
National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research surveillance program chairman Professor John Kaldor said, taken literally, the results showed more people are having unprotected sex than before.
He said a lack of government funding for HIV programs in certain states was directly related to the hump in infections.
Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations executive director Don Baxter said, compared to NSW, the Victorian government has been disinvesting in the HIV program since the mid 1990s.
“NSW and Sydney have demonstrated that it is possible to at least stabilise, if not start reducing HIV infections,” he said.
“It is the only city in jurisdiction in the world that is really achieving this. The intensity in programs that are run in Sydney, particularly by ACON, but by other agencies as well, is far greater than what happens in Victoria.”
ACON CEO Stevie Clayton said NSW infection rates had remained stable because of the collaboration between HIV agencies and the level of government funding. There were also higher rates of testing and disclosure in NSW, she added.
“But it has to be noted that the HIV epidemic is a really fragile thing and it can change in the blink of an eye,” she said.