Inner Sydney has reduced new HIV acquisitions by 88%, meaning it may be the first locality in the world to reach the UN target to end AIDS as a public health threat by 2030, according to data released today at IAS 2023, the 12th IAS Conference on HIV Science.
Andrew Grulich of the Kirby Institute at the University of New South Wales and member of the Governing Council of IAS – the International AIDS Society – presented the findings, citing progress in Inner Sydney, where HIV was once most prevalent in Australia, as evidence that stopping new HIV acquisitions is possible.
Grulich attributed success in Inner Sydney in part to community outreach and prevention efforts, including widespread availability and use of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP).
The announcement comes just one week after the Kirby Institute released national surveillance data showing that new diagnoses of HIV among gay and bisexual men in Australia has fallen by 57% over the past decade.
“The extraordinary success in HIV prevention in the gay neighbourhoods of Sydney is due to decades of government leadership,” Grulich said. “Working in partnership with community and clinical organisations, effective research-based interventions have been designed and implemented.
“These numbers show us that virtual elimination of HIV transmissions is possible. Now, we need to look closely at what has worked in Sydney, and adapt it for other cities and regions across Australia.”
Just 11 new cases of HIV were recorded in inner-city Sydney in 2022, the place that was at the epicentre of the epidemic in the early 1990s. The local population is estimated to be 20% gay men, the group in society which have traditionally been the biggest segment of people living with HIV.
Sharon Lewin, IAS President, IAS 2023 International Chair and Director of the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity at the University of Melbourne in Australia, said the results show how far Australia has come in the journey tackling HIV.
“These encouraging findings from inner city Sydney show just how far we have come since the early days of the AIDS pandemic before we had effective testing, treatment or prevention tools,”
“A durable end to Australia’s HIV epidemic requires a cure and a vaccine, and the scientific community won’t stop until we discover them.”
The researchers have stressed that HIV is still occurring in other areas of Australia, and that includes other areas of Sydney. The results however show that regular testing, and easy access to PrEP treatment can have a huge effect.
OIP Staff
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