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April 10, 2013
New cheap pill to ‘revolutionize’ AIDS treatment

A three-in-one anti-retroviral pill costs only $10 and could hopefully simplify the lives of people living with AIDS

A new cheap pill introduced in South Africa could revolutionize treatment for HIV and AIDS patients.

The treatment, a three-in-one anti-retroviral called an ARV, costs only $10 (€7.65) per patient in a single dose.

Speaking to the Agence France-Presse, South African health minister Aaron Motsoaledi said: ‘Before 2010, we were buying the most expensive ARVs in the world.

‘Now we are a country where the ARVs are the cheapest in the world.’

March 25, 2013
Israel’s new health minister to remove ban on gay blood donations

Yael German, Israel’s new minister of health, has instructed a public committee to deliberate the removal of a ban on blood donations from gay men

In her first move as Israel's new health minister, Yael German instructed the ministry staff today (25 March) to reconsider the ban on accepting blood donations from gay men.

The form filled out by every blood donor in Israel states that men who have had sex with other men are prohibited from donating blood.

People who are HIV positive, used drugs or been exposed to mad-cow disease, among other constraints, are also prohibited from donating blood.

February 11, 2013
Australian state aims to eliminate HIV by 2020

New South Wales health minister Jillian Skinner launches campaign which she says can eliminate HIV in the state by 2020

New South Wales health minister Jillian Skinner launched an ambitious campaign last week to end HIV infections in the Australian state - where 250 gay men catch the virus each year - by 2020.

The Ending HIV campaign focuses on three simple messages: test more, treat early and stay safe.

'It has been 30 years since the first diagnosis of HIV in this state,' said Skinner at the launch of the campaign.

January 17, 2013
Vaccine must be given to gay men to prevent anal cancer, says BMA

British Medical Association is urging Gardasil vaccine, normally used to treat young girls for cervical cancer, should be given to gay men

Doctors have urged the UK government to allow young gay men access to the vaccine for Human Papilloma Virus (HPV). 

Leading medical professionals are urging the UK government to give gay men access to a vaccine that could prevent anal cancer.

The British Medical Association (BMA) said the Gardasil vaccine, which prevents Human papillomavirus (HPV) and will given to young schoolgirls from next September, should given to gays in sexual health clinics.

January 14, 2013
Queensland health minister accuses gay health group of failure

Australian Right-wing Liberal state government minister continues to stick the knife in gay health charity months after cutting its funding

Queensland health minister has delivered an unrestrained attack on the gay health group he cut funding from last year, and the previous state government, blaming them for a predicted rise in HIV infection.

December 4, 2012
Jamaica Health Minister: Anti-gay laws must change for ‘greater good’

Health Minister Dr Fenton Ferguson says Jamaica must keep pace with international opinion and backs ‘buggery law’ review

Jamaica’s Health Minister has indicated anti-gay laws in the country should change ‘for the greater good’ whatever people’s personal opinions.

Dr Fenton Ferguson particularly singled out comments by Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller who said, during her election campaign a year ago, she would allow her politicians a free vote on scrapping the ‘buggery laws’ that criminalize gay sex on the Caribbean island.

December 1, 2012
Australian state launches plan to cut HIV by 60 percent

The Australian state of New South Wales believes it can slash new HIV infections by almost two thirds in just three years and hopes to do even better by 2020

Australia’s most populous state has unveiled an ambitious new HIV strategy aimed at reducing new transmissions of the virus among gay men by two thirds in three years.

The New South Wales state Health Minister Jillian Skinner made the announcement to a room full of LGBT health and community groups on World AIDS Day.

August 28, 2012
Rugby code backs Australian campaign to end homophobia

An Australian television campaign calling on people to stand up to homophobic abuse has received the backing of one of country’s most popular sporting codes

A new Australian campaign tackling homophobia has been endorsed by the Australian Football League (AFL) rugby code.

The No To Homophobia campaign was launched at the Victorian state parliament today by the Victorian Mental Health Minister Mary Wooldridge and the Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Ken Lay.

Wooldridge said it was everyone's responsibility to take action on homophobic attitudes.

‘This is a call to action in relation to saying no to homophobia,’ Wooldridge said.

August 6, 2012
Calls for Poots to quit over gay blood donation row

Protesters in Londonderry urge for 'biased and illogical' ban on gay blood donations to be lifted in Northern Ireland

Protesters have called on Northern Ireland's health minister Edwin Poots to resign over his refusal to lift a ban on gay people donating blood.

LGBT rights activists shouted 'Give Poots the boot' outside a blood donation session in Londonderry on Saturday (4 August).

They then went inside to offer their blood, which the health service in Northern Ireland is still not allowed to accept, despite restrictions on gay donors being eased in the rest of the UK.

July 14, 2012
Australian boys to receive Genital Warts vaccine

In a world first, Australian boys will receive a vaccine against a virus that causes oral, anal and penile cancers in gay men

In a world first, the Australian Government will begin vaccinating boys against strains of the Human Papilomavirus (HPV) that are known to cause cervical cancer in women and oral, penile and anal cancers in men.

Australian schoolgirls have been receiving the Gardasil HPV vaccine since 2007 but the drug was not being subsidised for boys, meaning that a course of the drug was costing parents who wished to immunise their sons many hundreds of dollars.

July 8, 2012
Queensland delivers on threat to reroute AIDS funding

The Australian state of Queensland has delivered on a threat to reroute $2.6 million in AIDS funding to a Ministerial Advisory Group despite the local LGBT community's protests

The Australian state of Queensland has delivered on its threat to set up a Ministerial Advisory Committee to direct where money to combat the spread of HIV should go after it defunded the state’s only LGBT community health organization, and has now announced the composition of the committee.

Queensland Health Minister Lawrence Springborg will now direct $2.6 million in funding it previously gave to the Queensland Association for Healthy Communities (QAHC) to the advisory committee to distribute, though its supporters are continuing to campaign against the decision.

June 30, 2012
Homophobia still an issue for LGBT Australians

LGBT Australians are still facing high levels of discrimination and violence but the country's Health Minister believes marriage equality will be the final step in ending discrimination against them

Sydney’s Inner City Legal Centre has published new research showing that discrimination and vilification are still major issues for LGBTs in the Australian state of New South Wales (NSW), while the country’s Health Minister has declared that reforming marriage laws will be the final reform to end legal discrimination against them.

The ‘Outing Injustice: Understanding the legal needs of LGBTI communities in NSW’ report found that 54.4 percent of respondents had experienced vilification by a stranger in a public space.

June 29, 2012
Gay man wins first battle for NI blood donations

High Court rules there is case for arguing that Northern Ireland ban on gay blood donations is 'irrational and unlawful'

An unidentified gay man has won the first stage of a court battle to lift an 'irrational and unlawful' ban on gay blood donations in Northern Ireland.

The ban, in place since the 1980s, was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales in November 2011.  But health minister, Edwin Poots, claims the outlawing of gay donations is is to ensure public safety.

June 28, 2012
Gay blood ban pressured for change at NI court

A Northern Ireland court has heard how a ban on gay men giving blood is ‘irrational and unlawful’

Lawyers representing an unidentified man have pressed the Northern Ireland health minister to lift a ban on gay blood donations.

The ban, in place since the 1980s, was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales in November 2011. However health minister, Edwin Poots, has maintained the ban saying it is to ensure public safety.

June 18, 2012
NI health minister urged to show evidence for 'bigoted' gay blood ban

SDLP slams Edwin Poots for 'repellent' backing of gay blood donor ban in Northern Ireland

Northern Ireland's health minister has been asked to produce evidence after continuing to back a 'bigoted' ban on gay blood donors.

Speaking on the BBC Sunday Politics NI program yesterday (17 June), Edwin Poots said he received two new pieces of research that strengthened his position and said he wants to extend the ban to others who also engage in 'high risk' sexual behavior.

June 17, 2012
Health Minister stands by ban on UK gay blood donors

Edwin Poots suggests people who have sex with prostitutes and Africans should also be banned from giving blood

Health Minister Edwin Poots is standing by his decision to ban gay men in Northern Ireland from donating blood.

Speaking on the BBC Sunday Politics NI programme today (17 June), Poots said he received two new pieces of research this week that strengthened his position.

However Poots has said he does not want the ban to apply to gay people only.

He said: ‘I think that people who engage in high risk sexual behaviour in general should be excluded from giving blood.

June 1, 2012
Australian opposition leader upset about 'gays on boats' poster

Tony Abbott criticizes posters at the Health Minister’s electorate office that show him as homophobic, racist and sexist

Opposition leader Tony Abbott of Australia is unhappy about posters that depict him as homophobic, racist and sexist.

Abbott told the Nine Network this morning (1 June): ‘It's tacky, it's not funny and Tanya Pibersek should be better than that and the Labour Party should lift its game.'

Health Minister Tanya Plibersek displayed in her Sydney electorate office posters that carry the slogans: 'I'm threatened by boats and gays. Gays on boats are my worst nightmare' and also 'Note to Ladies: Make me a sandwich.'

May 21, 2012
Queensland cuts funding to state’s only LGBT health agency

Health minister says ‘I refuse to throw good money after bad’

The only LGBT health agency in the Australian state of Queensland is ‘putting out an international distress call’ following the news that the state’s new LNP (conservative) government is cutting its funding.

Health minister Lawrence Springborg said the cut in funds was in response to an increase in HIV prevalence in the state and what he said was a failure in public health policy.

February 25, 2012
Australia promotes lesbian health

Tanya Plibersek, the Australian Federal Health Minister, confirmed the government’s support of lesbian and same-sex attracted women’s (SSAW) health

Tanya Plibersek, the Australian Federal Health Minister, spoke of the government’s support surrounding health issues for lesbian and SSAW this week at the annual Women Say Something Mardi Gras Forum.

The popular event, held at the Columbian Hotel, Sydney, played host to a multitude of talks. However most noticeable was Plibersek’s comments that the government recognises that the health concerns of lesbians and SSAW are widely associated with homophobia.