HIV/AIDS cases on the rise again In Australia
Pastor Dale Morgan
*HIV/AIDS cases on the rise again In Australia*
By staff writers
June 03, 2008 01:53pm
Article from: NEWS
THE number of people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS has risen nearly 40 per
cent in six years, new figures show.
There was a 39 per cent increase in the number of people diagnosed with
the virus across Australia between 1999 and 2005, according to the
research published in the CSIRO’s Sexual Health journal.
The annual number decreased between 1993 and 1999 by 32 per cent from
1056 to 719 but increased between 1999 and 2006 by 39 per cent - from
719 to 997.
A team of university academics and government officials said in the
journal’s special HIV edition that the rising number of sexually
transmitted infections and falling condom use could be behind the increase.
The researchers also said that since 2000, nearly one in five people
diagnosed with the virus believed they contracted HIV during
heterosexual sex.
Of those, a third were born in “a high-prevalence country” - where more
than 1 per cent of the population had the virus. Another 19 per cent
said that their sexual partner was from a high-prevalence country.
“People born in several countries of Africa and Asia are much more
likely to be diagnosed with heterosexually acquired HIV infection than
those from other countries of birth, including Australia,” the
researchers said.
Significant increases in diagnosis rates associated with heterosexual
contact were observed in Victoria, Queensland, Western Australia and
South Australia.
The researchers said more needed to be done to stop HIV from spreading
at such a high rate.
“Recent increases in annual numbers of HIV diagnoses in Australia
underline the continuing need for HIV-prevention programs, particularly
among men having male to male sex.”
Victoria had the fastest growing rate of HIV diagnoses in gay men - with
a 131 per cent increase in new sufferers between 1999 and 2005.
In Queensland, the number of gay men diagnosed grew by 55 per cent. But
NSW - which has the highest rate of HIV diagnoses - had a relatively
small increase of just 8 per cent.