No longer a death sentence: Australia making progress in diagnosis and management of HIV

Ahead of World AIDS Day, newsGP spoke with a sexual health expert about the progress in the fight against HIV.

World AIDS Day is held on 1 December each year to raise community awareness of HIV and AIDS, and show support for people living with HIV.
The introduction of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) earlier this year has helped put Australia on the path to becoming one of the first countries in the world to end the transmission of HIV.
In addition, as part its commitment to ending HIV transmission the Federal Government has announced funding for the first HIV self-testing kit, the Atomo Self Test – a single-use rapid finger stick test for the detection of antibodies.
Government funding towards a fifth National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Blood Borne Viruses and Sexually Transmitted Infections Strategy: 2018-2022 is also underway to support closing the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians’ health outcomes.
Speaking at Parliament House this week, Labor Senator Penny Wong said Australia is leading the way in tackling HIV and AIDS.

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During the Canada Post strike announced September 25, 2025, the following measures will be undertaken to minimize service disruption to BC-CfE clients and providers.

  • The BC-CfE Laboratory has transitioned to private courier for delivery of outgoing reports and documents. Results required urgently can be faxed upon request. (Lab Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8775; FAX 604-806-9463)
  • The BC-CfE Drug Treatment Program (DTP) will fax outgoing forms and documents to the provider’s office. (DTP Contact Information: Phone 604-806-8515; FAX 604-806-9044)
  • St. Paul’s Hospital Ambulatory Pharmacy has transitioned to private courier for delivery of medications. We recommend requesting medication at least 2 weeks in advance in case of delivery delays, particularly to rural/remote parts of BC. (Contact Information: Phone 1-800-547-3622; FAX 604-806-8675)

During the Canada Post strike, we recommend that documents be faxed or couriered to our sites, versus utilization of regular mail service

The BC-CfE Laboratory is streamlining reporting processes for certain tests in order to simplify distribution and record-keeping, and to ensure completeness of results. Beginning September 2, 2025, results for the ‘Resistance Analysis of HIV-1 Protease and Reverse Transcriptase’ (Protease-RT) and ‘HIV-1 Integrase Resistance Genotype’ tests will be combined into a single ‘HIV-1 Resistance Genotype Report’.
For more details and example reports, please click on the button below