On World AIDS Day 2025, we reflect on more than four decades of resilience, innovation and collaboration in the global HIV response, which is built on partnerships between affected communities, researchers, clinicians and governments.
From the earliest days of the HIV epidemic, Burnet Institute has stood alongside community advocates to translate scientific research into public health impact.
This year, the global HIV response faces renewed challenges. Major cuts to international funding risk undermining decades of progress.
Burnet’s modelling shows that such cuts could lead to 10 million additional HIV infections and nearly 3 million extra deaths by 2030. These projections underscore the urgent need for international donors, including Australia, to raise their commitments and support sustained investment to achieve global HIV elimination.
Across the Pacific, HIV is emerging as a serious public health threat. In Fiji, cases have more than tripled in 12 months. Resource constraints, small and weak health systems, and limited investment and support for community-based responses are turning a preventable and treatable condition into a deadly one, with stigma, fear and misinformation deterring people from seeking care.
Burnet has a proud history of working alongside Pacific partners to strengthen health systems and dismantle barriers to care. We continue to use our expertise in the current HIV response across the Pacific. In Fiji, we are supporting the country’s first peer-led counselling network that is grounded in empathy and lived experience. In the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu, we are supporting nurses and midwives to deliver essential interventions to prevent mother-to-child transmission.
Australia’s own progress demonstrates what is possible when communities, researchers and governments work together. HIV notifications have declined by 27 per cent over the past decade, supported by strong sector collaboration and ready access to testing, treatment and prevention.
While this decrease is encouraging, increases in diagnoses over the past three years remind us that the effort to eliminate HIV transmission is ongoing and that progress has not been equal across all communities, with people born overseas continuing to experience disproportionately higher rates of new infections. We welcome new funding from the Commonwealth to expand access to PrEP for people ineligible for Medicare, ensuring that HIV prevention is accessible to all who need it.
Achieving the elimination of HIV transmission in Australia and across our region will require continued investment in equity-driven approaches which address stigma, strengthen community leadership, and ensure scientific advances reach those who need them most. Collaboration with affected communities and local health partners remains the cornerstone of meaningful and sustainable progress.
Written by Burnet Director and CEO Professor Brendan Crabb AC, for the annual World AIDS Day Parliamentary Breakfast booklet.
