Almost 30,000 Australians living with HIV are set to benefit from a potential game changing medication now available through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS).
Prior to now, the only course of treatment available was a strict medication regime that required patients to dose daily, however, this is no longer the case.
Australia's first and only long-acting treatment for HIV, Cabenuva, has now been added to the PBS and, unlike previously available options, it need only be administered six times annually, as opposed to 365 days a year.
The CEO of WAAC (formerly known as Western Australian AIDS Council), Lisa Dobrin, said this new treatment might just help to alleviate some of the mental stress caused by the inflexibility of a daily pill regimen.
"Most of us don't really like taking pills. I think that's clear for a start, right?" she said.
"And if you do take pills, then you have to be vigilant about taking them on a regular basis, and sometimes that can be hard enough, just taking vitamins as an example.
Relief from anxiety over HIV stigma
Ms Dobrin went on to explain that the stigma surrounding a positive HIV status was another major worry for people living with the virus, a worry she hoped might be lessened with the new treatment.
"There's a lot of discrimination that still exists," she said.
"You can imagine [the stress] if you still have to take [multiple] pills every day, and you're worried about someone knowing your status of having HIV.
"Rather than trying to take pills every single day, if you're able to go six times a year, and have one injection that covers you for two months … that pill fatigue, that [constant reminder] every time you take a pill … this is going to reduce that stigma and discrimination significantly."
Ms Dobrin said the treatment could be a game changer for Indigenous people living with HIV, as well as other people in regional areas, where "accessing medication is A harder and B often there are fewer services and support, and more stigma that's prevalent in those communities".
Minorities face added stigma
Ms Dobrin said First Nations people faced more discrimination and isolation than the rest of the community.
"And then you add on that you live with HIV, so then you've got not wanting your mob or your family to find out because there's additional stigma and discrimination within the community," she said.
"So then they've got this decision around do they or don't they reveal their [HIV] status."
HIV is often considered to be an illness that only affects LGBTQIA+ men — a misleading stereotype that is both harmful and inaccurate.
In recent years, Western Australia has seen a decrease in HIV notifications in queer men, and an increase in positive cases for men who identify as heterosexual.
Cases on the rise within FIFO industries
Ms Dobrin said FIFO workers were one particular group that was seeing an uptick in HIV notifications.
"Often [these FIFO cases are] a man who maybe identifies as heterosexual, but perhaps still engages in sexual activity of some kind with another man," she said.
"And also then people who are travelling on their week or two off will go to a region like South-East Asia, which has a high prevalence of HIV."
HIV notifications in WA had dropped over the past two years while the border had been closed, Ms Dobrin said, but this was expected to increase again in the coming months.
"It's a really good news story at the moment about the low notifications, but we've got still a lot more work to do, particularly around stigma and discrimination," she said.
"If more people are educated around HIV, what it is, how you can get it, how you can't get it, how you can treat it, then we've got a better chance of transmission remaining low, irrespective [of whether the] border is open or not."
