ViiV HEALTHCARE ANNOUNCES RECIPIENTS OF POSITIVE ACTION COMMUNITY GRANTS

Monday 6 March 2023, Melbourne Australia: ViiV Healthcare Australia is proud to announce four Australian community-based HIV organisations will receive funding from the eighth cycle of the Positive Action Community Grants (PACG) program.

The $200,000 fund has been distributed among five projects that look to address quality of life for people living with HIV (PLHIV), enhance relationships between PLHIV and healthcare professionals, improve HIV-related knowledge and enhance health system responses to achieve the best long-term outcomes for PLHIV.

In its most recent cycle, ViiV Healthcare Australia awarded grants to:

• Bobby Goldsmith Foundation to evaluate the extent to which a tailored suite of Health and Well-being Programs can enhance the quality of life for PLHIV.
• National Association of People Living with HIV Australia (NAPWHA) to collect and broadcast the stories and voices of remarkable people living with HIV via a regular podcast.
• National Association of People Living with HIV Australia (NAPWHA) to bring together Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with HIV from around Australia for a 3-day residential workshop that will promote healing, facilitate learning and lived-experience expression, increase engagement in treatment and care, and improve health outcomes. 
• Living Positive Victoria to improve health literacy and understanding of HIV across multicultural communities by translating important HIV related information into eight community languages.
• Positive Life NSW to support young people transitioning from paediatric to adult HIV care services, navigate the healthcare system and manage mental health, wellbeing, and quality of life.

Ann Maccarrone, Community Engagement and Partnerships Manager at ViiV Healthcare Australia, believes the projects receiving PACG funding have the potential to make positive, meaningful, and importantly, lasting change for people living with HIV. 

“We are proud to be supporting community organisations who are actively working to improve the lives of people living with HIV. While all the submissions from this cycle were impressive, the projects submitted by the Bobby Goldsmith Foundation, Positive Life NSW, Living Positive Victoria and National Association of People Living with HIV, stood out for their ability to address the unmet needs of people living with HIV while working to make tangible and meaningful impact on improving quality of life,” said Maccarrone. 

ViiV Healthcare believes that all people living with HIV are entitled to a thriving quality of life, all projects receiving funding from the 2022 grants cycle include a focus on improving quality of life for the community.

Nicholas Lawson, CEO of Bobby Goldsmith Foundation believes it is vital that meeting the needs of people living with HIV remain at the forefront of efforts to improve their quality of life and help them to thrive. 

“In order to improve quality of life within our community we must ensure that the supports and services we offer have the potential to create meaningful change. Our PACG funding will enable us to expand our highly successful suite of Health and Wellbeing Programs to people with HIV living in the greater Western Sydney area through a multi-stage project that aims to evaluate the short and long-term impact these programs have on their quality of life, using the recognised PozQoL assessment tool to measure these changes.” Lawson said.

Aaron Cogle, Executive Director at National Association of People Living with HIV Australia (NAPWHA) says that providing people living with HIV access to safe spaces where they can share their own experiences and be heard is vital in improving quality of life and self-advocacy skills.

“Our Positive Action Grant funding will be used to support two projects - Positive Living Histories and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV Wellness Retreat – both of which will focus on giving people living with HIV a safe space and a platform to share their stories,” said Cogle.

“Creating safe spaces for people living with HIV to share their stories is vital in ensuring they are able to access community support relevant to them. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander HIV Wellness Retreat is a wellness program that will bring together Indigenous people living with HIV from across the country to help encourage healing and the sharing of stories, facilitate learning, increase engagement in treatment, and improve health outcomes. The program will be developed in close consultation with an Indigenous steering committee to ensure relevance and cultural safety.” he said.

“Positive Living Histories is an oral history project which works from the ground up to expand the history of the community response to HIV in Australia. Through a process of community led intergenerational dialogue, this project is designed to broaden the boundaries of the recorded histories of HIV positive people within the Australian context. Through a focus on communities marginalised from the most historical narratives of HIV in Australia, we are working to ensure that our histories, our stories, truly reflect the full diversity of communities most affected by HIV. This work will enable new generations to learn from and connect with the full diversity of our incredible community response.” Cogle said.

Richard Keane, Chief Executive Officer for Living Positive Victoria believes it’s important that all people living with HIV have access to the facts and can access easy to understand information about their condition.

“At Living Positive Victoria, we believe it’s vital that all people living with HIV should have access to clear and easy to understand information on HIV in their preferred language. Our Translating the Facts project aims to work alongside PLHIV from eight different language groups to translate a suite of five English-language HIV resources on understanding HIV, navigating the health system, treatment and management . We hope that these community-translated resources strengthen health literacy and improve access to care for PLHIV from diverse language backgrounds.”

Jane Costello, Chief Executive Officer for Positive Life NSW, says the PACG funding will help the organisation provide critical support services to young adults living with HIV as they navigate the transition from paediatric to adult HIV healthcare services. 

“It’s important that all people living with HIV have access to appropriate support services throughout every step of their HIV journey. Currently in NSW there is an identified and significant gap in transitional services for young people living with HIV transitioning  from paediatric to adult care. Our PACG grant will be used to develop the Positive Transitions program, a monthly workshop that will see young people with HIV take part in practical activities and interactive discussions to help empower them around independent self-management.” said Costello.

Established globally in 1992 and introduced in Australia in 2015 the Positive Action Community Grant program looks to fund community-based projects that reach those most affected by, or at risk of HIV, particularly in marginalised, hard to reach or vulnerable communities.

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