HIV AUSTRALIA 2018
HIV Australia 2018
Find on this page commissioned articles, audio interviews, and editorials about the latest in HIV, from both a local and global perspective.
Essays
Critical Care: Australian Nurses and the HIV/AIDS Crisis
In his 1993 memoir Take Me to Paris, Johnny, Australian historian John Foster recalls the fear and paranoia surrounding his HIV positive partner, Juan Céspedes, when he was admitted to hospital in the late 1980s.
HIV research hinges on people living with HIV
Since it exploded into the human population in the early 1980s, HIV has been wrangled into some form of control through enormous advocacy and research efforts.
‘Some are here and some are missing’: Movements, crisis and normal times
It is hard to know where to start, or perhaps more to the point, where it starts. But it seems to me that it starts with a feeling. Something unrecognised, subtle at first. Vague and at the edges of awareness.
Candlelight Memorial in 2017
It is 36 years since the first signs of a devastating new epidemic were noted and reported, but that is only one way of noting when HIV or AIDS, as it was then, began. It probably began on a whole series of different days.
Access to health care is critical for the control of Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs)
I remember the moment as if it were only yesterday. I was sitting at the back of a lecture theatre at the Alfred Hospital in 1998 listening to Dr Jackie Mein present research data from a study we had undertaken in the Northern territory.
24th Annual Keith Harbour Address
On 5 June 1981, I was studying first year medicine at the University of Sydney. I had just moved to Sydney from the United States where I had spent three years living with my mother and her new husband.
Blogs
Gonorrhoea: Drug Resistance in Australia
Drug-resistant gonorrhoea is a looming problem for Australian sexual health. However, with vigilance and preparation, we can prevent this potential crisis coming to fruition.
Sexually Transmitted Infections (STIs) in the ‘next’ era
Transcript from an interview with Professor Christopher Fairley and AFAO Deputy CEO Heath Paynter.
Trans and Gender Diverse People in HIV Data
Trans and gender diverse people experience multiple barriers to HIV prevention. Methodology prevents their appearance in research and surveillance systems, while the health workforce’s awareness of the needs of trans and gender diverse people is generally poor.
Medicare ineligibility: Beyond AHOD (Australian HIV Observational Database) Temporary Residents Access Study (ATRAS)
Australia’s world class public health system is built on universality and solidarity. It is high time we amplified these values by embracing people who are either living with HIV or at risk of it, but ineligible for Medicare.
Improving the experience of accessing PEP (Post-Exposure Prophylaxis)
Treatment as Prevention (TasP) and HIV Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) have dominated media on HIV in Australia in the last year. However, an overlooked biomedical prevention method, Post-Exposure Prophylaxis (PEP), deserves to stay firmly on the radar of the community-led HIV response.
From a PrEP PBS Listing to Where?
It has been a lengthy process to list Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP) on Australia’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Criminalisation of sex workers with HIV
Punitive laws against people with HIV to prevent HIV transmission are ineffective and unsupported by evidence.
Consumption in our communities: alcohol and other drugs
Substance use invites stigma and stereotype. But just as the code of silence around domestic violence and mental health is finally breaking down, perhaps a shift is also required in our national conversation about drug use.
Chemsex/Party and Play: challenging assumptions, responding to need
Crystal meth, mephedrone and GHB/GBL raise the heart rate, blood pressure and sex drive. They are key ingredients in Chemsex – sex between men that occurs under the influence of drugs taken immediately before or during sex. In Australia this is also known as Party and Play (or PnP).
Will reinforcing condom use in gay and bisexual men reduce syphilis incidence?
Syphilis rates among gay and bisexual men in Australia have fluctuated between 2010-2016, with a declining trend in both HIV positive and HIV negative gay and bisexual from 2014-2016, yet incidence is still high
Podcasts
Research in Australia’s HIV response
An interview with Dr Jeanne Ellard, AFAO’s Senior Research Officer.
Healthcare and research needs for trans and gender diverse people
An interview with Teddy Cook from PASH.tm (the Peer Advocacy Network for the Sexual Health of Trans Masculinities) at the AFAO Members’ Meeting in May 2018.
Consumption in our communities: alcohol and other drugs
An interview with Dr Nadine Ezard (Clinical Director of Alcohol and Drugs at St Vincent’s Hospital in Sydney) at the AFAO Members’ Meeting in May 2018.
HIV, cognitive health and dementia
An interview with Dr Lucette Cysique from the University of NSW at the AFAO Members’ Meeting in May 2018.
HIV and mobility
An interview with Gai Stackpool from the Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service in NSW at the AFAO Members’ Meeting in May 2018.
The impact of living with HIV for culturally and linguistically diverse people
An interview with Donatella Cifali from the Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service in NSW at the AFAO Members’ Meeting in May 2018.
STIs in Australia and the potential for mouthwash as prevention?
An interview with Dr Christopher (Kit) Fairley (Director at the Melbourne Sexual Health Centre)at the AFAO Members’ Meeting in May 2018.
Sexualised use of drugs
An interview with Dr Adam Bourne from ARCSHS (the Australian Research Centre for Sex, Health and Society) at Latrobe University at the AFAO Members’ Meeting in May 2018.