AIDS arrived in Australia in the early 1980s, but unlike in other Western countries, Australia's rate of infection peaked as early as 1984 and then steadily declined.

But success has bred some complacency.

Since 2000, there has been a slight rise in HIV infections. Ninety percent have been among gay men, but heterosexuals have also been contracting the virus in increasing numbers. In New South Wales, prevalence among women doubled from 2003 to 2004, a spike attributed to sex with partners in or from high-prevalence countries.

HIV is no more common among Aborigines than among the population at large, but the causes of infections differ. An equal number of infections stemmed from male homosexual sex and from heterosexual sex, and 20 percent of infections were attributed to injection drug use.

With a population of 20 million and less than 200 AIDS deaths in 2004, AIDS in Australia is well under control, and the country has turned its attention to helping abroad.

Australia has pledged AUD$75 million (USD$54.7 million) to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. It has also donated unilaterally to several African nations (including Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa and Uganda), as well as its Asian neighbors, (including Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Nepal, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines and Vietnam).

In February 2006, Australia announced a partnership with the William J. Clinton Foundation to tackle HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and China. Papua New Guinea, an island nation just north of Australia with the highest HIV prevalence in the Pacific (1.7 percent of adults are infected), is an area of particular concern; Australia spent AUD$60 million (USD$43.7 million) on HIV/AIDS in Papua New Guinea from 2000 to 2005.

* Note: Figures reflect most recent statistics from UNAIDS and the World Health Organization.

• Related Links
• UNAIDS Country Report: Australia
  This page has UNAIDS statistics on HIV/AIDS in Australia, an epidemiological fact sheet and analysis of the problem. It notes that Australia's epidemic "peaked in 1984" and was followed by a rapid decline, which is projected to continue.
• World AIDS Day Australia -- 24 Years of AIDS
  Follow a timeline of the epidemic from 1981 to 2005, with a focus on Australia.
• National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research
  Based at the University of New South Wales, the center conducts Australia's HIV surveillance and issues the nation's annual report on the state of HIV/AIDS.
• HIV/AIDS: Australia's Response
  This is the official Web site for the Australian Agency for International Development's HIV/AIDS-related projects. Read here about what Australia is doing to combat the epidemic in other nations in the Pacific and around the world.