The Wire

On Wednesday Aids Awareness Week in Australia begins, culminating one week later with World Aids Day on the 1st December. The latest survey by the United Nations Programme, UNAIDS, shows that the disease is infecting more people than ever. More than 38 million people are infected by HIV, and the equivalent of the entire population of Australia (more than 20 million people) have died so far around the world from AIDS. In Eastern Europe the epidemic has recently been on a rise. In the new EU member state Estonia, on the Baltic Sea, an estimated 1 per cent of its 1,4 million population are HIV positive. In Asia, the epidemic has been growing most rapidly, with more than 1 million developing the virus in 2003… and there are warnings that countries like Papua New Guinea and Indonesia are also facing an explosion in infection rates in the next years. But in Australia, which has been praised for its fight against the disease, AIDS is on the rise. HIV diagnoses in Australia have gradually increased over the last five years. Michael Katerla spoke to Vikki Sinnott, Manager of the HIV, Hepatitis C and Sexual Health Promotion Department, at the South West Sydney Area Health Service.