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Advocates for HIV/AIDS research are calling for immediate action by health officials in relation to funding.
Director of the Victorian Aids Council (VAC), Mike Kennedy, said the Commonwealth government’s inaction has put Australia’s world-renowned HIV research programs at risk.
“Seven weeks from the end of the financial year we have no guarantees from the Commonwealth government that funding to continue the vital work of these [research] centres will be available after June 30,” Kennedy said in a statement. “Loss of the centres’ HIV research capacity would make Australia an international laughing stock and would be a major tragedy for our HIV response.”
Professor Marian Pitts, Director of the Australian Research Centre in Sex, Health and Society (ARCSHS), said the situation regarding funding is the “worst it has ever been”.
“We used to receive funding in blocks of three to five years,” she told SX. “That length keeps diminishing so the funding comes in every six or 12 months and the quantum has not changed in the last 10 years, so in effect we get less and less money.
It means that because there is no long-term stability, we never know if the funding will come from one year to the next. High-quality researchers have left the HIV field for more secure support in other areas, so in this regard the damage has already been done. It will take a major injection of funds to rectify this situation.”
David Cooper, Director of the National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR), concurred.
“NCHECR is very frustrated at the lack of resolution of this issue despite an internal review of HIV/AIDS funding by the Department of Health and Ageing, which was completed almost two years ago,” he said.
The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) said it has been concerned about the state of funding for the past “three or four years”.
“We have been highly critical of the previous minister [Tony Abbott] for not making a decision on this, and the Department of Health and Ageing hasn’t done much about it either,” Executive Director Don Baxter told SX.
“However, we are being patient and expect to meet with Minister Roxon this month.”
The Federal Budget, announced on Tuesday, includes no new specific initiatives for GLBT health or for the HIV sector, but ACON said it is “pleased” that funding has been maintained at existing levels.
“However, the Commonwealth will be reviewing its health funding arrangements with the states later this year, and ACON will be advocating for an outcome that improves the capacity of the HIV sector to continue its vital and valued work,” Acting CEO Nic Parkhill told SX.
Reforms to recognise same-sex couples in a range of financial areas have all been costed within the Budget, as expected.
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