The Australian federal government would target gay men under a $10 million sexual health campaign being considered in response to big national rises in HIV notifications in recent years. Health minister Tony Abbott said he was considering the plan because of the 41 percent increase in new notifications nationally between 2000 and 2005, ABC News reported. Gay men still account for the bulk of new infections. The campaign would address the general community but would focus on gay men. "Australia has a pretty good record here, we've been regarded as a world leader at arresting the spread of HIV/AIDS and the last thing we would want to do is put that at risk," Abbott said. Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations executive director Don Baxter welcomed the plan, saying mainstream media advertising needed to target gay men's sexual practices. "I think one of the missing parts of our response is social marketing on mainstream media, as the gay men and lesbians' lives have become more mainstream of the last ten or 15 years, we need to be putting HIV messages to gay men on mainstream media," Baxter said. "Ten million [dollars] is probably on the lower end of what we would expect, but we think we can probably make a good start with that." The federal government would need to approve funding for the plan in the next budget. Ref: Sydney Star Observer (m)
Credit: GayNZ.com News Staff
First published: Friday, 2nd February 2007 - 12:00pm