The latest edition of HIV Australia explores the nexus between HIV prevention, policing practices and the law.

As many contributors make clear, legal and public health responses to HIV are intrinsically linked.

Contributors outline the importance of this relationship, and stress the need to address laws and policing practices that undermine harm reduction approaches and create barriers to HIV prevention, treatment and care.

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We are now seeking articles for the next edition, which will address the value of community-based research and evaluation and examine how the Australian HIV partnership can capitalise on the wealth of knowledge generated from over 30 years of effective community-led responses to HIV.

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The Draft Conference program and an overview of the schedule of related events for AFAO's National Gay Men's HIV Health Promotion Conference is now online.

Download program

This year’s conference tackles the theme ‘New challenges, Big Ideas’, and asks:

• How can HIV organisations tackle the changing HIV prevention and treatment landscape?
• How are we gearing up for new service models in key areas like HIV testing and PrEP?
• What work is being done to reach the 2020 targets and how should we measure ourselves against those targets?
• Just what are the big ideas to re-energise our work and create social change delivering real benefits in our core communities?

Abstracts have now closed.

Registrations

• Registrations for participants requiring travel and accommodation have closed
• Registrations for participants not requiring travel and accommodation close Friday, 8 April (a 10% late registration fee will apply)

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AFAO and other key community HIV advocates have welcomed the outcome of a High Court appeal related to the application of criminal law in regard to HIV transmission.

The judgement that there was no evidence that Mr Godfrey Zaburoni intentionally transmitted HIV to a partner will support future advocacy for the development and implementation of prosecutorial guidelines.

The case establishes that if an HIV-positive person has sex with someone without protection/condoms, it can not be inferred that they intended to transmit HIV.

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In preparation for the possibility of an early election, AFAO is currently finalising a survey for the major parties (Liberal/National Coalition, Labor and the Greens) canvassing a range of key HIV-related issues.

A consultation draft of the survey has been distributed to membership and a final draft will be approved at our 22 April Board meeting.

Responses to the survey will be sought in the following months and AFAO will publish the parties’ responses in the lead up to the election. Our aims are to:

• inform all parties and engage them in considering our issues
• extract commitments that the party forming Government will be bound to
• publicise the parties’ responses within our constituencies, which can in turn inform their voting decisions.

The survey addresses the following topic areas: prevention, testing, treatment, the enabling environment, and Australia’s region.

For more information about the survey and the accompanying communications strategy, contact Policy and Communications Manager Linda Forbes on lforbes@afao.org.au or 02 8568 1109.

A National PrEP Forum will be held on 6 May 2016. Hosted by the Kirby Institute, AFAO, the Alfred Hospital and the Queensland HIV Foundation, the main purpose of the forum is to provide an opportunity for PrEP advocates, researchers and clinicians to share information on what’s happening around the country to enhance access to PrEP in Australia.

Sessions will include:

• updates on research
• coordination of PrEP demonstration trials underway in different jurisdictions
• potential issues affecting PBS listing and eligibility criteria, and
• discussion of advocacy efforts.

Attendees will include representatives from across the HIV partnership, as well as departmental bureaucrats and other stakeholders.

On 30 May, AFAO is hosting a national forum to support the development of HIV health promotion activities for mobile populations – including migrants, refugees, long-stay temporary visa holders, and Australian residents who travel to high HIV prevalence countries.

We expect the forum will contribute to ongoing health promotion and research with these communities, as well as building capacity and strengthening existing partnerships and informal networks.

The forum program has been developed by AFAO in consultation with a Reference Group representing our membership and other key stakeholders.

Participants will include staff from AFAO member organisations, ASHM, CALD health agencies, researchers, and members of the networks addressing HIV, sexual health and mobility.

For more information, contact Project Officer Jill Sergeant on jsergeant@afao.org.au or 02 8565 1106.

Our regular members' meeting will be held Saturday 4 June in Sydney, following a Board meeting on Friday 3 June, and an AIDS Council CEOs meeting on 2 June.

Invitations and further information about these meetings will be sent out in late April.

The AFAO National Policy Officer Network (ANPON) will be holding a face-to-face meeting in Sydney on Friday 3 June.

The gathering is an opportunity to workshop in greater depth key issues across the federation, as well as hear from external presenters who are involved in policy and advocacy in the NGO, health and government sectors.

For more information contact AFAO Policy Analyst Micahel Frommer on mfrommer@afao.org.au or 02 8568 1108.