Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for the Environment, Climate Change and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I, also on behalf of Senator Smith, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that 1 December 2013 is World AIDS Day;

(b) recognises that:

(i) more than 35 million people now live with HIV/AIDS worldwide, and almost 10 per cent of these are under the age of 15,

(ii) every day nearly 6 300 people contract HIV, nearly 262 every hour,

(iii) in Australia in 2012 there were 25 000 people living with HIV and 1 253 new diagnoses of HIV infection, a 10 per cent increase from previous years,

(iv) in 2012, 1.6 million people died from AIDS related illnesses,

(v) in some communities HIV rates are as high as 40 per cent,

(vi) since the beginning of the epidemic in the 1980s, more than 75 million people have been infected with HIV and nearly 36 million have died of AIDS related illnesses,

(vii) there are now outstanding antiviral treatments available to people living with HIV, and

(viii) although a lot of work has been done and many medical advances have been made, there is no cure and no vaccine, so a lot of research and work still needs to be done before we see the end of HIV;

(c) acknowledges that:

(i) in July 2014, Melbourne will host the 20th International AIDS Conference (AIDS 2014),

(ii) the conference will bring together 14 000 delegates from around 200 countries, which will be the largest medical conference ever held in Australia, and

(iii) the conference will be chaired by Nobel Laureate, Professor Francoise Barre Sinoussi, and Professor Sharon Lewin; and

(d) calls on the Parliament to:

(i) continue Australia's strong commitment to an enduring effective partnership between government, scientists and the community to meet the needs of people living with HIV,

(ii) continue Australia's strong commitment to medical health and research; and

(iii) foster and cultivate Australia's medical health and research community and researchers to ensure we stay at the forefront of all aspects of treatment, care and research in HIV.

Question agreed to.