Welcome to CoPAHM's quarterly e-News! This is your source for the latest updates regarding HIV and mobility issues. If you have something you would like to share via CoPAHM please let us know. For broader news relating to sexual health, please view the SiREN e-News or subscribe by emailing siren@curtin.edu.au.

Please get in touch at copahm@curtin.edu.au if you need assistance accessing the research. 

CoPAHM Updates

CoPAHM World AIDS Day Webinar. CoPAHM hosted a webinar on the 10th of December, joined by speakers Dr Roanna Lobo, Dr Jennifer Power, Dr Chris Lemoh, Dr Jeanne Ellard and Christian Vega. The webinar was facilitated by Lisa Bastian. The discussion focused on how to use current interest and momentum in HIV and mobility to strengthen our action in responding to HIV among migrant and mobile populations. Speakers also deliberated the role of community in this biomedical era of HIV and the importance of understanding lived experience and peer support. For more information, get in touch at copahm@curtin.edu.au 

CoPAHM would like to wish you a happy holiday season, and we look forward to working with you in 2020! 

New faces at CoPAHM

Andrea Gavranic is a third year undergraduate studying Health Promotion and Nutrition. Daizy Mae Lelis is a third year undergraduate Health Promotion student. Both Andrea and Daizy have been involved in creating this eNews and in the planning of the World AIDS Day webinar. 

Olivia Christmas is third year undergraduate Health Promotion student. She is volunteering at CoPAHM to revise the HIV Prevention Resources Toolkit, focusing on the development of resources that consider the needs of CaLD and migrant populations.

In the news

2019 HIV and Intersectionality Symposium.  The HIV Intersections Community of Practice hosted its inaugural HIV Intersectionality Symposium on the 27th of November. Select recordings of discussions and panelists are available to listen on podcast here. More details about the event can be found here

PrEP Fact sheets. The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) has recently published two new fact sheets regarding PrEP.  These fact sheets cover who PrEP is suitable for and directions for its use and are available in English and Chinese. The fact sheets can be accessed here.

“Going somewhere?” Overseas-acquired STIs campaign. The WA Department of Health launched a campaign on World AIDS Day to raise awareness of the importance of HIV prevention and testing for heterosexual male travellers. Read the ABC media article here and visit the Healthy WA website here.

U=U video campaign. PEACE Multicultural team has recently developed a video campaign for U=U (Undetectable=Untransmittable), to address stigma associated with HIV. The video can be accessed here.

Living Positive Victoria calls for a turn-around of current Medicare ineligible status for overseas-born Australians.  Living Positive Victoria President, Adam Ehm, has called for change to the current Medicare ineligible status for overseas-born Australians. Read more here

HIV. What you need to know – a new multilingual resource. The Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service (MHAHS) has launched a new multilingual consumer resource: HIV. What you need to know.  Available in eight languages, the free booklet provides priority culturally and linguistically diverse communities with the most up-to-date information on HIV prevention, testing and treatment in NSW.  Download the booklets from the MHAHS website here.

Stigma is still slowing progress of treatment for HIV. A news article for The Sydney Morning Herald written by Elton John and Darryl O’Donnell highlighted how stigma around HIV and AIDS is a major barrier in prevention and treatment. Read the full article here

Migration, visas and hepatitis. Hepatitis Victoria has produced an easy to understand, introductory resource to support particularly migrants living with hepatitis B or C in understanding how hepatitis affects their visa application. This resource is available in 6 different languages: English, Arabic, Burmese, Dari, Vietnamese and Chinese. Find out more information here

Reports

Finding a place to call home: Immigration in Australia. This report discusses the profile of Australia's immigrant population, specifically in terms of how it has changed over the past few years. Also discussed is the overall health and wellbeing of immigrants and the discrimination and bias that they experience. Read the full report here.

How do we value the role of the community responses to HIV? This report provides a summary on what was discussed in the meeting titled: “How do we value the role of the community responses to HIV?” in Bangkok, Thailand. It discusses and builds on the 'What Works and Why (W3) Project'. The W3 project supports community and peer-led programs in Australia to adapt, scale-up and demonstrate their impact in rapidly changing community and policy environments in Australia. Read the full report here.

Research

Is differential access to prevention distorting HIV epidemiology in Australia? Medland et al. describes the impact that differences in accessing HIV testing, treatment and PrEP through Medicare has on HIV epidemiology in Australia. They conclude that this difference in access results in higher transmission and delayed viral suppression in newly arrived gay and bisexual men, and a failure to suppress the epidemic. Find out more about this article here
 
Feeling misidentified: Understanding migrant's readiness to engage in health care screening. Hendy et al. have proposed a theory to explain the readiness of first-generation South Asians to engage in hepatitis B or C screening. This model takes into account individual and community relationships, as well as the relationship between community and the healthcare system. The authors suggest a stronger development of culturally aware and theoretically informed screening interventions. This article can be accessed here.

Two decades of surveillance data show late presentation among a diverse group of women diagnosed with HIV in Victoria, Australia. Twenty-two years of HIV diagnoses among women in Victoria was analysed by Moreira et al. Women were diagnosed late, and frequently reported an AIDS-defining illness at diagnosis. The study suggests tailored programs towards women are needed to increase access to services and improve timely diagnosis of HIV. More information here

Characteristics of recently arrived Asian men who have sex with men diagnosed with HIV through sexual health services in Melbourne and Sydney. Blackshaw's study compared the differences in HIV risk between migrant Asian men who have sex with men (MSM) and Australian MSM living with HIV.The authors found that Asian men reported having fewer partners and a lower medium CD4 cell count at diagnosis. The study suggestion dedicated funding towards community-led health promotion responses. Read more here

Sexual safety and HIV prevention in travel medicine: Practical considerations and new approaches. Cornelisse et al. discuss the role of clinicians in offering HIV and STI prevention strategies during pre-travel visits to improve travellers' sexual safety. They recommend suggesting the use of condoms, and potentially biomedical strategies such as PrEP and PEP to travellers before and during travel, as well as HIV and STI testing on arriving to home. Access the article here.