Australia: Health ministers sign declaration to eliminate all new HIV transmissions
Health ministers representing every Australian state and territory have signed up to a commitment to end all new HIV transmissions by 2020.
The announcement was made earlier this week at the AIDS 2014 conference in Melbourne.
Health ministers David Davis and Jillian Skinner of Victoria and New South Wales made a joint declaration along with the local co-chair of the conference Professor Sharon Lewin.
The AIDS 2014 Legacy Statement was agreed on by all Australian health ministers following a June meeting.
It aims to take “all necessarily action” to remove any barrier to testing, prevention, treatment and care.
Working with key affected communities, including gay and bisexual men, the statement was the outcome of a national discussion between government, research, scientific and community leaders in February.
The some 20,000 Delegates at the conference are urged to sign a Melbourne Declaration, which states that LGBT people “are entitled to equal rights and to equal access to HIV prevention, care and treatment information and services”.
