(Transcript from SBS World News Radio)
Hundreds of people have attended a vigil in Melbourne to remember the 36 million people around the world who have lost their lives to HIV and AIDS.
They've also paid tribute to the delegates and researchers who died on their way to the international AIDS conference underway in Melbourne, in the MH 17 disaster.
Kristina Kukolja, with this report by Adeshola Ore.
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The candle-lit vigil at Federation Square was organised by the International AIDS 2014 conference, which began in Melbourne last weekend.
Those in attendance celebrated the progress of science and medicine since the discovery of the AIDS virus in 1983, while stressing that there is a long way to go in the fight against HIV and AIDS.
Co-chair of community programs at the conference, Brent Allan, says the vigil was about remembering those living with HIV-AIDS and those who have died from the disease.
"There's been 36 million people who've passed away from HIV since we identified the virus. It's the same number of people currently living with HIV worldwide. This vigil is to do two things. One, remember those we've lost and two, celebrate the lives of those we've saved and celebrate the lives of those still with us."
Data released by the Kirby Institute earlier this month reveals the number of people diagnosed with HIV in Australia is at a 20-year high.
According to the institute, 26,000 Australians are now living with HIV and the rates have been rising since 1999.
It estimates that one in seven Australians with HIV are unaware of their status.
Brent Allan says the theme of this year's conference, Stepping Up the Pace, is about promoting a sense of urgency about HIV and AIDS.
"Australia has been leading this epidemic worldwide. We have one of the lowest infection rates in the globe. However, it's not time to get complacent, it's not time to start winding back services, thinking we have done enough when in fact, infections are on the inreases including in populations we've never seen before like young women. And we need to do more to make sure that our young people are protected and those living with HIV don't have to experience stigma and discrimination."
Brent Allan says better sex education that is age appropriate in schools is needed to prevent the spread of HIV.
"I think personally we should start at primary school, teaching young people about their bodies and what their bodies are like and how they change over time. In middle school we do things about like introduction notions of affection, holding hands, what it means to like someone in relationships and then when someone gets to high school and they're prepared to talk about sex and sexuality and gender, they already have the basics behind them."
A director of Living Positive Victoria, Mitchell Payne, says community attitudes are still big concerns for those living with HIV.
"Stigma and discrimination is one of the most debilitating features of the HIV and AIDS epidemic. Listen, it prevents people from being tested. It prevents people from talking about it period and even internalised self-stigma as well for HIV. It can be destroying. It can cause anxiety, in some cases depression, that feeling of being alone and isolated. So that within itself is very very troubling."
Mitchell Payne says talking about HIV and AIDS is the only way to tackle the stigmas.
He says it's also crucial to spread the message that despite better medications being available, it's still a deadly disease.
"I do believe there is a sense of complacency within the sort of younger generations and I believe that is because HIV nowdays is sort of portrayed as this one tablet, two tablet a day sort of life. And yes that is the case, yes we do have access to life changing, life saving medications, but people living with HIV do have challenges and speaking from experience and I believe that message really needs to get out there."
And the Global chair of the International Community of Women Living With HIV, Teresia Otieno, told the crowd, it is important to tackle the widespread misconception that HIV only affects males.
"There are an estimated 35 million people living with HIV globally and half of that number are women, ten per cent of that number are children. In our patriarchal society, the feminisation of the epidemic is often forgotten. However we cannot forget the disproportionate burden that women bear because of the HIV pattern. HIV definitely is still present with us today."
Speakers at the Melbourne vigil also remembered the six delegates who died on their way to the international conference when Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was shot down.
They vowed to continue the legacy left by the researchers who were lost.
