Climate change could increase HIV infection rates world-wide

Social factors, including economic pressures caused by climate change, could lead to an increase in HIV infection rates world-wide, warns a leading researcher from the University of New South Wales (UNSW).

Daniel Tarantola, Professor of Health and Human Rights at the School of Public Health and Community Medicine, says that disadvantage in developing countries must be addressed if the world is to prevent a dramatic escalation of the HIV epidemic as well as other health problems.

Professor Tarantola will join a panel of top HIV researchers to address the topic "A Future Free of HIV" at UNSW on Wednesday night. The event will be moderated by the Honourable Justice Michael Kirby AC.

"It was clear soon after the emergence of the HIV epidemic that discrimination, gender inequality and lack of access to essential services have made some populations more vulnerable than others. These problems have not gone away," Professor Tarantola says.

"Today, additional threats are lurking on the horizon as the global economic situation deteriorates, food scarcity worsens and climate change begins to affect those who were already dependent on survival economies.

"The same is true for climate change. Climate change will trigger a chain of events which is likely to increase the stress on society and result in higher vulnerability to diseases including HIV," he says.

Professor David Cooper AO, Director of UNSW's National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR) says: "Science has achieved great strides towards shaping a more effective response to HIV. Yet research has not succeeded in producing the hoped-for 'magic bullets' of either a cure or a vaccine.

"We need to escalate our research efforts while sustaining and expanding what we know works: good prevention and access to life-saving antiretroviral therapy and integrated care."

Topics covered at the forum include:

• The social and human rights implications of HIV, presented by Professor Tarantola
• The latest scientific perspectives on HIV, presented by Professor Cooper, one of the world's best-known HIV researchers.
• Social and behavioural aspects of the epidemic, including condom use and sexual practices, and people's fear of talking explicitly about sex, addressed by UNSW Associate Professor Juliet Richters.