The NSW HIV Prevention Research Implementation Science Monitoring (PRISM) Partnership
New South Wales (NSW) has been a world leader in HIV prevention, with a 23% decline in HIV diagnoses among gay, bisexual and other men who have sex with men (GBM) between 2015 and 2019. However, large disparities in HIV prevention among sub-populations of GBM have been documented. During 2015–19, HIV diagnoses among men with evidence of early stage infection declined by 75% in Australian-born GBM living in inner Sydney, but declines in HIV diagnoses were much lower, or diagnoses increased, among GBM who were born overseas, living outside of central Sydney, or aged less than 25 years.
From 2022 to 2026, the HIV PRISM Partnership will conduct highly-responsive iterative implementation science research during the period of the NSW HIV Strategy 2021–25. We will regularly (quarterly) monitor key HIV prevention indicators, and co-develop and evaluate interventions which will enable the Strategy to reach its highly-ambitious quantitative prevention targets in the four domains of prevention, HIV testing, HIV treatment, and stigma. We will ensure interventions address the disparities we have previously documented, and any new disparities that emerge during the period of the Strategy.
The HIV PRISM Partnership includes the NSW Ministry of Health, the Centre for Social Research in Health at UNSW Sydney, and community organisations working with GBM, people living with HIV, professionals working in the HIV response, and culturally and linguistically diverse people at risk of HIV. Working with our partners, we will co-design interventions to address disparities in HIV prevention among GBM, evaluate how these interventions are adopted and implemented by our partner organisations. We will develop new and extend existing monitoring systems to enable us to measure the impact of our interventions on HIV prevention outcomes, and progress towards the targets of the NSW HIV Strategy.
The partnership will generate findings to inform the development, and implementation at scale of HIV prevention initiatives that address disparities among sub-populations of GBM in NSW, and in order to achieve the targets of the NSW HIV Strategy 2021–2025.
- NSW Ministry of Health
- ACON
- The Centre for Social Research in Health, UNSW
- Positive Life NSW
- Australasian Society for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, and Sexual Health Medicine (ASHM)
- Multicultural HIV and Hepatitis Service
- Pozhet
National Health and Medical Research Council (GNT2006448 and GNT183295), and the NSW Ministry of Health.
