University of NSW adjunct professor and strategic health policy adviser Bill Bowtell.Credit:Alex Ellinghausen
Nationwide figures,released by the Kirby Institute on Thursday,show rates of new HIV cases among recently arrived gay and bisexual men born overseas have stagnated since 2020.
Vaughan said Australia’s comparatively low HIV rates can lead to people arriving in Australia to drop their guard. Stigma remains an issue.
“If you’re coming from,for example,Indonesia,where being gay means you could be persecuted,you’re more likely to have a distrust of government and government services when you arrive in Australia,” he said.
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Bill Bowtell,an adjunct professor at the University of NSW and a key government adviser during the AIDS epidemic of the 1980s,said the reduction in cases in the inner-city was a “remarkable achievement”,but Australia could not afford to be complacent.
“The great experience in Australia is effective,frank,targeted messaging to each of the communities at risk is the way to go,” he said. “We can’t say that the battle is won. What keeps that figure down,and what will keep it down into the future,is continual pressure,continual funding and continual active intervention with people at risk of infection.”
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