25 Years of HIV Testing in Australia

This month marks a quarter-century since Australia began offering the HIV antibody test. During those 25 years, an estimated 40 percent of adults have undergone the test at least once. A 2008 study found that 80 percent of gay men in Australia had been tested at least once, and one-third said they retested every six months. With some 900,000 HIV tests conducted annually, the screening is one of the nation's most common medical tests. "The good thing in Australia is we've always had free and anonymous testing," said Levinia Crooks, CEO of the Australian Society for HIV Medicine. "When people are tested, if they find out they have HIV, the response overwhelmingly is concern about who they might have given it to and concern not to give it to anyone else." Australia continues to diagnose about 1,000 new HIV patients each year and has logged a total of 30,000 cases.

The Friends of AIDS Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the quality of life for HIV positive individuals and empowering people to make healthy choices to prevent the spread of the HIV virus. To learn more about The Friends of AIDS Foundation, please visit: http://www.friendsofaids.org.


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