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Andrew Burry
General Manager, AIDS Action Council of the ACT
0403 416 040
02 6257 2855
andrew.burry@aidsaction.org.au
The AIDS Action Council of the ACT (AAC) is a not-for-profit community organisation. The AAC works to reduce HIV transmission and to minimise the personal and social impacts of HIV.
The AAC is an organisation which belongs to the community, and works to meet its goals through community development approaches. The communities of the AAC include the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender communities, sex workers, and people affected by HIV.
The AAC's services include social marketing, peer support, counselling, workshops, health information and training.
The AAC was founded in 1986. It receives funding through a contract with ACT Health, and through other fundraising activities.
HIV (the Human Immunodeficiency Virus) is the virus that causes AIDS (the Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome). Since anti-retroviral therapy (ART) became available in the 1990's, AIDS-related illness has become less common and more managable for the majority of people living with HIV.
Although treatments are available, there is currently no cure or vaccine available. Research continues and is occasionally promising, but any cure or vaccine is likely to be many years away.
Since around 2000, HIV transmission has been rising across Australia. In 2007, 8 people were diagnosed with HIV in the ACT. Approximately 80% of HIV transmission in Australia is between gay men and other men who have sex with men.
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