This is the first issue of Positive Living under the management of the National Association of People living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA). Since its inception as a tabloid style magazine for people living with HIV/AIDS in 1995 it has had a number of ‘owners’.

PL began as the flagship publication of PLWHA Victoria in a stapled newsletter form way back in 1990 with David Stephens as the Editor. It changed to a tabloid format under the editorship of Bridget Haire and art direction of Colin Batrouney and was designed to fit as an insert into the Melbourne Star Observer, then one of that city’s main gay publications. The success of that style of publication, particularly the standard of journalism (it was lauded as one of the most effective treatment publications around at that time), its innovative layout and design and its mass circulation distribution led to calls for it to become a national publication.

The Australian Federation of AIDS Organisations (AFAO) was then the best placed organisation to take over the management of it as a national publication and it soon established itself as the most widely read HIV publication in the country. A review of the publication several years ago by researcher Michael Hurley found that PL was the second most important source of information about HIV treatments for positive people after their doctors. Bridget Haire and then Kirsty Machon kept up the incredibly high standard of journalism around everything important that was happening around HIV issues, most particularly around the crucial changes which were happening to treatments following the implementation of HAART in the mid-nineties. It was a complicated and often confusing period but the publication was able to explain the medical developments in accessible, layperson’s language.

The editorship has been filled for short periods by Richard Knight, Dean Murphy and Dermot Ryan. At the beginning of 2002, AFAO was fortunate to secure the services of the current Editor, Paul Kidd who has continued the role as the magazine has been transferred to NAPWA. As the Acting President of NAPWA, I would like to welcome Paul to our organisation and we look forward to working with him on continuing the high standard of this publication and implementing a few improvements along the way. Over the past year Paul has shown his skills and passion for presenting quality journalism about the issues affecting positive people. The Board of NAPWA is particularly pleased with the emphasis Paul, as a positive person, hopes to bring to increasing the opportunity for more positive people to write for the publication, making it an even more effective voice for those living with the virus around the country.

NAPWA would like to thank AFAO for maintaining the publication at the standard it is today and for acknowledging that the time is now right for the peak organisation of people with HIV/AIDS in Australia to take over the production of the magazine written for them. Positive Living has been on a long journey but I think we can now say that it has finally reached its rightful home.

*David Menadue* is the Acting President of NAPWA