Congratulations to Willie Rowe, who has resigned from his position as AFAO President to take on a new role as WA Premier Colin Barnett's chief of staff. Willie has been President sice the end of 2012.

We will miss Willie's patience, insight, enthusiasm and humour. He's been fantastic to work with. Good luck Willie.

Bridget Haire, AFAO Vice President, is acting as President until the May 14 Board meeting in Sydney, when the Board will decide next steps.

Read more ...

Biomedical prevention is the key focus of the AFAO Members Forum (AKA Members Workshops), which will take place in Sydney next week (15-16 May).

Topics include home and community-based testing, treatment as prevention and PrEP. There will also be updates on community dispensing and the ‘What works and Why’ social research framework.

On the day preceding the Members Forum, policy officers from across the AFAO membership will be having their annual face-to-face meeting.

Download Forum program

If you would like to attend the Members Forum, email admin@afao.org.au

Toward 2020

The current edition of HIV Australia looks at the impact of target-setting on Australia’s policy response to HIV.

Contributors highlight both achievements and unmet challenges, asking: whose needs are being addressed by the current policy framework and who is being left behind?

HIV Australia is available at HIV agencies, by subscription, and online.

If you would like copies of HIV Australia for display in your reception area or waiting room, please contact asajben@afao.org.au.
 

Callout for contributions

The next edition of HIV Australia will explore the latest developments and understandings about pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), treatment as prevention (TAsP), and other areas of the expanded HIV prevention toolkit.

Would you like to be part of this exciting conversation?

Find out how you can contribute …

Kapul Champions Media Workshop

Ten media personnel, representing eight media organisations attended the highly successful Kapul Champions media workshop on 25 March.

The workshop achieved its goals of increasing the Papua New Guinea media’s awareness and sensitivity regarding people of diverse sexuality and gender expression.

Read more ...

Helping WA AIDS Council build links in SE Asia

We were very pleased to welcome Ben Bradstreet to our Bangkok premises on 23 March. Ben is on secondment from the WA AIDS Council (WAAC), in an initiative which aims to build links between WAAC and SE Asia, foster partnership, and share knowledge.

His main focus so far has been involvement with the AFAO/APCOM JumpStart Project, which aims to build capacity of MSM and TG national networks in the Greater Mekong and ISEAN sub-regions.

Read more ...

APCASO strategic planning update

Our regional partner APCASO is making excellent progress with drafting their 2015-2020 Strategic Plan.

The latest stage of the process took place in Bangkok over 19-22 April, where stakeholders analysed APCASO’s history and identified current strengths and strategic opportunities. 

Read more …

Plans are being finalised for a workshop that aims to identify best practice HIV health promotion strategies for addressing the needs of young gay men.

The workshop is the latest response to discussions among AFAO members about how to best address young gay men’s HIV risk and health promotion needs.

It will be held on 22 May in Sydney.

Read more ….

AFAO welcomes the launch, in April, of a new autonomous network for trans men: PASH.tm (Peer Advocacy network for the Sexual Health of Trans Masculinities).

PASH.tm is an important step forward in highlighting and addressing the under-served area of HIV prevention work targeting trans men who have sex with other men (TMSM).

Read our media release

Forced testing

The South Australian and Western Australian governments recently introduced legislation that allows for forced testing for BBVs in some circumstances. These laws are of great concern. Our briefing paper provides an overview of the issues.

Medical cannabis

Research has shown that cannabis can help people deal with HIV-related pain, loss of appetite, neuropathy and nausea. This was one of the points we highlighted in our joint submission (with NAPWHA, ACON, and Positive Life NSW), to the Senate Inquiry on the Regulator of Medicinal Cannabis Bill 2014. Read the submission.

Anti-discrimination protections

How to get the biggest bang from your buck for a discrimination complaint, the evolution of Australian anti-discrimination protections, and the crucial need for anti-discrimination advocacy, were among the topics explored at an HIV AIDS Legal Centre (HALC) fundraiser in March.

Read AFAO Policy Analyst Michael Frommer’s blog post on this invigorating panel discussion.

Our blog just turned 3!

Since April 2012 we've published 80 posts on topics ranging from human rights to PrEP at afaotalks.blogspot.com.au. We've used the blog to promote, report back and reflect on events large and small, from AIDS 2014 to the HALC fundraiser mentioned above, to the Candlelight Memorial (stay tuned).

To help plan future content we need to know more about what our readers think. Can you help us out by doing this short survey?

Farewell to James Malar

Engagement & Communications Advisor James Malar finished his 12 month assignment in our International Office in March. 

James played a key role in our engagement with the AIDS 2014 conference last year, particularly with coordinating the Australian Award Fellowships program (AAF). He also worked closely with our partner in PNG, Kapul Champions. 

We thank James for his huge contributions to the AFAO International Program over the past 12 months and wish him luck in his next position with APCASO.

Read more …

Welcome to Ann Stevens

Ann Stevens has joined AFAO as a casual Project Officer until the end of June 2015. She’s assisting with consultations for AFAO’s health promotion and young gay men workshop (see above), and assisting with revising AFAO’s resource for HIV-positive women, Treat Yourself Right. Welcome Ann!

New Manager for admin team

As the first step in the restructure of AFAO’s Finance and Admin systems, we have created a new position, Manager, Finance and Administration. Sarita Ghimire, AFAO’s Financial Controller, has been appointed to the position. Congratulations Sarita!