Key findings
- Chlamydia and gonorrhoea notifications continue to be reported at disproportionately high rates among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, with 28% of gonorrhoea notifications among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
- Infectious syphilis notifications decreased in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population in 2013, particularly in 15 – 19 year olds and in Northern Territory, Queensland and Western Australia. There has been an increase in syphilis in the non‑Indigenous population.
- Young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 – 19 years and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in outer regional, remote and very remote communities continue to experience substantially higher rates of chlamydia, gonorrhoea and infectious syphilis.
- In 2013, new HIV diagnoses were notified at a higher rate in the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population than the non‑Indigenous Australian‑born population. A higher proportion of diagnoses in the past five years in the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander population are due to injecting drug use (12%) than the non‑Indigenous Australian‑born population (3%), and heterosexual contact (21% vs. 13%).
- Notifications of newly diagnosed HBV and HCV infections are reported at disproportionately high rates among the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.