HIV diagnoses have hit an all-time low in Australia, thanks to the country’s early and effective response strategy.
During the HIV outbreak of the 1980s, the government decided to collaborate with the most affected population, to give money to trusted community groups that could educate individuals on safe practices, and, a bit later, to manufacture a widely available HIV preventative drug.
“Australia rolled out one of the first large-scale implementations. They put it on their pharmaceutical benefits scheme relatively early, making it free. They combined researchers’ and community expertise, rather than a top-down approach. You don’t see that in other public health responses,” explains Eamonn Murphy, deputy executive director for the program UNAIDS.
The World Health Organization recognized Australia’s efforts and used it as a model of prevention for other countries to emulate by the end of the 1980s. Today, Australia is among a small number of countries where 90% of patients are diagnosed, 90% of those diagnosed are on treatment, and 90% of those on treatment cannot transmit HIV sexually due to an undetectable viral load. It is expected that HIV will be eradicated in New South Wales, Australia’s most populous state, by 2030.
