Labor Has Unveiled A New $53 Million Plan To “Make HIV History”

The Labor Opposition says it will spend $53 million to “make HIV history” if it wins the next election.

Opposition health spokesperson Catherine King announced Labor’s new policy this morning, saying it will continue the Hawke/Keating government’s legacy that made Australia a world leader in tackling the HIV-AIDS crisis in the ’80s and ’90s.

Labor’s plan includes $3.6 million a year for states and territories to expand trials of the HIV prevention drug PrEP, which is considered to be 99.9 percent effective at preventing the contraction of HIV when used correctly. The opposition says this money will make the drug available to an extra 17,500 people.

If successful, the trials could see PrEP listed on the PBS, making it widely available for thousands more at-risk Australians.

The money will also be used to fund the first PrEP trial in the Northern Territory, which will be aimed at tackling the explosion of new HIV diagnoses in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. New HIV diagnoses among Australia’s Indigenous population are more than double the rate of the non-Indigenous population.

Labor has also pledged to restore $10 million in funding to Australia’s peak HIV organisations, including the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO), the National Association of People with HIV, Scarlet Alliance and the Australian Injecting and Illicit Drug Users League.

Another $3 million will be spent targeting “hidden populations” which are at higher risk of contracting HIV, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, and people who speak English as a second language.

AFAO CEO Darryl O’Donnell has welcomed the move, saying it’s “critical” is Australia is to reach its goal of eliminating HIV by 2020.

“HIV prevention and treatment among Indigenous Australians, migrants and some sections of the gay community is stubbornly difficult. A package such as this would allow us to go the extra mile, to ensure new medicines and testing technology reach every corner touched by the HIV epidemic,” he said.

“HIV thrives in the shadows of stigma and discrimination. It takes real resources to bring it into the open and prevent its transmission. Australia was an early leader in containing the spread of HIV. We now have an opportunity to resume that global leadership by ending HIV transmission.”

Health Minister Greg Hunt has been contacted for comment.