The MHAHS has launched an ethnic media campaign to support this year’s World AIDS Day campaign on 1st December. The My Health, My right campaign will focus on the right to health and the challenges faced by people living with HIV from culturally and linguistically diverse communities in accessing HIV testing, treatment and prevention.
The campaign highlights the right of everyone, including people living with and affected by HIV to be treated with respect and dignity, according to Barbara Luisi, manager of the Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service (MHAHS).
“The campaign reminds people that a person’s right to health is compromised when they are unable to access appropriate HIV testing, prevention and treatment. Marginalized communities, such as people from diverse cultural backgrounds, are often the least able to access their right to health and they are also among the most vulnerable to HIV,” said Ms Luisi.World Health Organisation estimates that there are about 36 million people living with HIV in the world today with about a third unaware of their HIV status. In Australia, there are 27,150 people living with HIV today with about 12% not knowing their status. About 30 per cent of new diagnoses among people from culturally diverse backgrounds are diagnosed late - meaning treatment may be less effective and the disease can be spread unwittingly.
The campaign is aimed at the sub-Saharan African, Chinese, Indonesian, Spanish, Thai and Vietnamese communities in NSW.
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