Page 1673 - Week 05 - Wednesday, 15 May 2019
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ACT with hepatitis, and their families or carers, to better understand how to manage this lifelong condition. The Capital Health Network HIV program provides nursing, education and counselling services, and of course there is the work done through Winnunga Nimmityjah.
In addition, ACT Health has funded a number of specific projects over the past two years to help in delivering the hepatitis B, hepatitis C, HIV and sexually transmissible infections ACT statement of priorities, which I launched in 2016. This strategy is also aimed at addressing emerging issues in the sector. One of the projects was an enhanced outreach testing project that delivered testing and education sessions to university students, as well as testing sessions at the Tuggeranong and Belconnen walk-in centres from February to July last year. This program was jointly delivered by the Canberra Sexual Health Centre, the AIDS Action Council, SHFPACT and Hepatitis ACT. Another initiative was the investment the ACT government made in a trial of the HIV prevention drug pre-exposure prophylaxis, or PrEP, in the ACT, an important preventive health step.
Ms Cheyne recognises the role of community-based outreach programs that provide opportunities to engage with priority populations. I agree with that. Outreach aims to build sexual health, literacy and awareness within communities. I welcome her suggestion to develop, with collaboration from stakeholders and affected communities, a framework for a collaborative community-based sexual health outreach model. Better connecting priority populations to prevention education and services, including through outreach and peer-based approaches and priority settings, is a key area for action in the most recent national sexually transmissible infections strategy. There is value in such a comprehensive approach to a wide-sweeping social and health issue.
We know that to progress and to overcome the barriers requires detailed, methodical work with our stakeholders. We need to share our priorities and ensure that we respond to high-risk behaviours without gaps or duplication. Equally we must also ensure that any progressive social health actions we undertake eliminate stigma and discrimination.
Ms Cheyne also proposed an annual sexual health week to increase awareness of STIs and highlight the ongoing availability of location-based and outreach services, which I think is a terrific idea. We support strategies to increase awareness and testing as part of a comprehensive health promotion campaign to reduce the number of undiagnosed STIs and prevent further transmission in the community. I have already asked ACT Health to consider a sexual health week as part of the forward program of work, to address the issues we have debated and discussed in the Assembly today, and to seek the input of sector stakeholders, who will be key to our success in any outreach and prevention goals we need to achieve in our community.
In the coming months ACT Health will further consult with key stakeholders to build upon the current statement of priorities and plan further actions to address unmet and emerging needs relating to STIs and BBVs in our community. On that note, this is a very timely motion. I look forward to working with community partners and the highly qualified clinical staff, who are very passionate about the work they do:
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