MEDIA RELEASE
Released By:
Downer
On World AIDS Day 2004 I am pleased to announce an initiative to bring more Australian expertise to the battle against HIV/AIDS in the Asia-Pacific region.
Australia will contribute $2 million to strengthen the regional response to the epidemic by creating a partnership between three Australian HIV/AIDS organisations and our official aid program.
The funding will be provided over three years to the Australasian Society for HIV Medicine (ASHM), the National Serology Reference Laboratory and the Albion Street Centre in Sydney. These bodies have played key roles in Australia's domestic response to HIV/AIDS.
Under these new partnerships, Australia will help implement regional programs to strengthen healthcare worker knowledge and safety, improve surveillance and diagnostic facilities and establish professional networks and organizations.
The partnerships will assist in meeting the objectives of Australia's International HIV/AIDS Strategy, Meeting the Challenge, which I launched at the Second Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on HIV/AIDS in Bangkok on 11 July.
Additional resources mean more opportunities to contribute to the regional HIV/AIDS response and to help countries build their own specialised resources and knowledge. For example, it will support ASHM's Asia-Pacific program to increase clinical knowledge on HIV/AIDS and its treatment and care.
Support for the National Serology Reference Laboratory will help improve quality assurance and laboratory management for HIV diagnostic facilities in the Asia-Pacific region.
Assistance to the Albion Street Centre will help it establish a network of HIV/AIDS healthcare workers and institutions across the region to improve occupational safety and minimise the risk of infection from blood-borne viruses.
An estimated 7.4 million people in the Asia Pacific region have HIV/AIDS and unless comprehensive action is taken, the region could become the next centre of the virus, after Sub-Saharan Africa.
The Australian Government recently more than doubled its international HIV/AIDS funding commitment by $350 million to $600 million by 2010.
Media contact:
Chris Kenny (Minister's office) 02 6277 7500 or 0419 206 890
Dominic Morice (AusAID) 02 6206 4220 or 0417 683 126