VAC Launches Petition for PrEP on Change.org

Following the exciting announcements regarding HIV Pre Exposure Prophylaxis (PrEP)
at last week’s Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle, the Victorian
AIDS Council (VAC) has launched a social media campaign through the world’s largest petition platform -
Change.org. The petition aims to increase pressure on the Australian government to approve the use of
PrEP for HIV prevention.
At last week’s CROI, findings from the PROUD study (UK) and the IPERGAY study (France/Canada)
demonstrated that PrEP greatly reduces HIV infection rates. This announcement follows close behind
VAC’s mid-Feburary release of an Issues Paper and Position Statement on their website at: www.vac.org.
au/PrEP. These documents outline the evidence base and the organisation’s firm stance that PrEP needs to
be approved for use in Australia as part of the ongoing response to HIV/AIDS.
“For the first time in 32 years, our goal of ending all new HIV infections in Australia is within sight,” said
VAC CEO Simon Ruth. “Through combined prevention strategies of condoms, PrEP, and undetectable viral
load, we can go a long way to achieving our vision: a future without HIV.”
He went on to add, “We know there are many Australians who want to access PrEP in order look after
their sexual health and wellbeing. As longstanding advocates for making HIV prevention practical and
accessible, VAC is hoping to help those voices be heard through this online petition.”
The petition is being largely shared through social media using the Twitter hashtag #approvePrEPdownunder
and linking to VAC’s Approve PrEP DownUnder petition at: bit.ly/approvePrEPdownunder