The End Of AIDS Is Near! Darryl O’Donnell Says Australian HIV Transmission Is On Trend To Be Eliminated By 2025
On December 1, we mark World AIDS Day and remember those we have lost to HIV/AIDS and take stock of our progress in eliminating HIV. In a radio interview with Troy Murphy, the CEO of the Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations, Darryl O’Donnell, said the most recent data on HIV transmission is looking good.
Clinical experts and researchers have outlined that the goal in Australia is to end HIV transmission by 2025. With funding, Agenda 2025: Ending HIV Transmission In Australia details that the likelihood of this goal is very high, and Darryl O’Donnell agrees.
WE ARE CLOSE TO ERADICATING HIV TRANSMISSION
“In 2021, we had the smallest ever number of people diagnosed with HIV. That’s 552 people, and that’s about half of those diagnosed five years previously, and so we’re seeing this really nice reduction in HIV diagnoses over time, but we’ve still got a way to go,” O’Donnell told Murphy, who went on to ask how much of the decline could be attributed to the covid lockdown.
“There’s certainly concern about that, but the overall trend of decline is absolutely real, and covid definitely has impacted on whether or not we could go to a clinic for a HIV test. So, lots of ways in which that might have affected us and that we’ll sort of see in this year’s data and next year’s data, but I’m not terribly concerned that we’re going to see too great a rise. The overall trend is downwards.”
When asked if Australia could eliminate HIV by 2025, O’Donnell said he believes that goal is achievable.
“2025 is getting really close now, but actually, we can do this. It’s part of what’s so exciting about working in the HIV response today… So, 2025, it’s really a short timeframe now, but we do believe that we can get that number of diagnoses, 552, we can really drive that further down over the coming few years.
“Because we now have tools like PrEP and HIV self-tests, it means that there is an opportunity for this Health Minister, Mark Butler, to drive Australia to be this leader in ending HIV transmission. He’s certainly signalled to us very strongly that’s his commitment, that he understands the data and the science, and he’s listening to experts, ourselves, researchers, others, he’s listening to what they’re saying, and he’s going to step into this really exciting opportunity to end an epidemic.”
To hear the whole interview with Darryl O’Donnell by Troy Murphy, visit The Troy Murphy Show website.
