Queensland government strips AIDS Council of funds, despite election promise

The Queensland government has removed $740,000 in funding from the Queensland AIDS Council, despite promising to continue its funds until January 2020.

The funds have been cut from money given to the Queensland AIDS Council to run and promote trials of the daily tablet to prevent the spread of HIV.

The Queensland AIDS Council has lost almost three quarters of a million dollars in funding.

These are known as the PrEP trials (Pre-Exposure Prophylaxis) to fight HIV which, if untreated, can result in AIDS.

Previous health minister Cameron Dick in 2015 increased funding to extend the original 2000  PrEP trial places to 3000.

However, Queensland Health this week said the money would be cut early, in January next year, because of two significant AIDS achievements.

Firstly, the PrEP was added to the federal government’s Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme on April 1. That reduced the cost of the PrEP tablets from “thousands of dollars” to about $30 per month.

Health Minister Steven Miles with Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk.
The government has stripped $740,000 from the Queensland AIDS Council.

Secondly, AIDS was removed from Queensland Health’s list of notifiable diseases about two weeks ago.

“In 2017, there were 12 new cases of AIDS reported in Queensland,” Health Minister Steven Miles said in a media statement on September 4.

“Compared to the late '80s and early '90s, where there were hundreds of AIDS cases notified each year, this is a significant achievement which is largely due to highly active anti-retroviral treatments for HIV.

“These treatments lower the viral load of HIV in the blood to virtually undetectable levels, which means they do not transmit HIV to their partners.

“Research shows that people living with HIV who are on this treatment and have an undetectable viral load do not develop AIDS.”

HIV however remains a serious health problem, with 185 new Queensland cases in 2017.

Queensland AIDS Council president Peter Black said the decision to remove the funds would impact the council's promotion of PrEP.

“For all the reasons we articulated to Queensland Health, everyone at QuAC is obviously very disappointed that the QPrEPd trial is coming to a premature end," Mr Black said.

"The associated loss of funding will also have a significant financial impact on the Queensland AIDS Council.

"However, QuAC has lost funding before and, as we have demonstrated before, QuAC isn’t going anywhere and will remain resolutely committed to improving the health and wellbeing of Queenslanders.

“…It is a potentially significant sum of money to the organisation and it supported some of our clinical services, in terms of salaries for our nurses and doctors.”

Mr Black said regional HIV sufferers found it harder than those in Brisbane, where there were a range of sexual health services as well as GPs to discuss HIV issues.

A spokeswoman for Mr Miles said the decision was taken because the Queensland AIDS Council had already achieved the outcome of promoting PrEP and getting it added to the PBS.

“The main reason is that it has achieved its objectives of getting the trial added to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, so it is much more affordable,” she said.

The spokeswoman disagreed reducing the funds would impact on the ability of HIV sufferers outside Brisbane to attract confidential treatment from GPs.

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