Page 4844 - Week 16 - Thursday, 29 November 1990
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WORLD A.I.D.S. DAY
Ministerial Statement
MR HUMPHRIES (Minister for Health, Education and the Arts), by leave: Mr Speaker, AIDS is an issue that has been near the top of the public agenda for a number of years. AIDS, or acquired immune deficiency syndrome, is an epidemic of international and national concern, and it is this high profile that has brought about the yearly event of World AIDS Day. World AIDS Day this year is 1 December, next Saturday. It is the international day of coordinated action against AIDS and is now recognised in most countries around the world. The day is designed to expand and strengthen the worldwide effort to limit the spread of AIDS, to highlight AIDS prevention and control activities already under way, and to forge new channels of communication about AIDS.
This year World AIDS Day will focus on women and will subsequently draw attention to the special underrecognised needs of women in the AIDS epidemic. The issue of HIV, human immunodeficiency virus, and AIDS has a profound impact on women, both as an illness and through their multiple roles in our society as mothers, wives, carers, health care providers, educators and income earners.
Recent evidence has suggested that heterosexual women may be placed at risk by traditional social roles and attitudes, and in particular women are made more vulnerable by social limitations on safe sex negotiations. Other research has indicated that women engaging in unprotected heterosexual intercourse are more likely to become affected than men, due to biological factors.
The World Health Organisation estimates that over eight million people worldwide are now infected with HIV, and a little over three million of these are women. It is expected that 500,000 people will develop AIDS during 1990-91, including 200,000 women. By the end of 1992, over 300,000 women will have developed AIDS. During this time many of these women will have died. By the turn of the century the annual number of new AIDS cases among women is expected to equal those among men.
In Australia the National Health and Medical Research Council recorded a total of 2,040 cumulative cases of AIDS in its September 1990 bulletin and, of these, 61 were women. The ACT has not been unaffected by the epidemic. The Territory has recorded 30 cases of AIDS and 20 of these people have died. Of the 10 cases of AIDS living in the ACT, one is a woman. Whilst on the surface these figures appear low in comparison with other States, we must be aware that the likely number of HIV positive people in the ACT is anywhere between 200 and 400 and, more importantly, most of these people will go on to develop and eventually die of AIDS.
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