Key findings
- Chlamydia and gonorrhoea notifications continue to be reported at disproportionately high rates among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
- Infectious syphilis notifications decreased slightly in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in 2012, particularly in 15 – 19 year olds. However, the trends vary across jurisdictions with a substantial decline in Northern Territory and a plateau in Queensland.
- Outer regional, remote and very remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities continue to experience substantially higher rates of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and infectious syphilis notifications compared with inner regional and major cities in Australia.
- New HIV diagnoses continue to be notified in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population at a similar rate to that in the non-Indigenous population. A higher proportion of HIV diagnoses in the past five years in the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population are due to injecting drug use (13%) than the non-Indigenous population (2%).
- Notifications of newly diagnosed hepatitis C infection and newly acquired B infection are reported at disproportionately high rates among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.