NAPWA celebrates 20 years

The National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA) is celebrating its twentieth anniversary today.

The anniversary marks a significant milestone for NAPWA, which has represented people living with HIV at the national level since 1989.

NAPWA’s story begins at the 1988 National AIDS Conference in Hobart, Tasmania, where a group of 20 HIV-positive activists took to the stage at the closing session to demand representation in the AIDS response.

That event – the first time in Australia that a large group of people had self-identified as being HIV-positive – led to the establishment of the National People Living with AIDS Coalition (NPLWAC), a national HIV advocacy organisation with the mission of increasing HIV-positive representation at the national and state level. In the early 1990s the organisation was renamed NAPWA.

In the decades since, improvements in medical treatments have meant that people infected with HIV are much less likely to die or experience the serious illnesses that were common at the time of NAPWA’s founding. But discrimination, stigma and fear are still real and NAPWA’s mission continues.

NAPWA’s 20th anniversary will be celebrated at a reception to be held on Friday, 3 April, from 4:30 pm to 6:30 pm. Media representatives are welcome to attend – call Julie Bates on 0425 286 785 before the event.

NAPWA has produced a short DVD to mark the anniversary, featuring a number of prominent HIV activists. Copies of the DVD, and interview opportunities with the participants, can be arranged.