Celebrating Community Champions 2023
Recognising inspiring action
and unsung supporters in HIV
We are excited to announce the Community Champions program is back in 2023!
In 2021, NAPWHA and Gilead launched the Community Champions aimed at finding and celebrating the unsung heroes supporting the HIV sector in Australia. This year we’re again looking for nominations for the third year running.
This year, we are NOT looking to nominate leaders in the sector who do brilliant work and we all know well. We are making a deliberate decision to focus on those unsung heroes who go unnoticed in their quiet pursuit of support for the HIV sector. It is time we celebrate those champions who work behind the scenes – loudly!
They could be family, friends or community members. They may be volunteers, people who work behind the scenes in healthcare, support services, community engagement, or one of the countless allies or advocates helping to better educate others on HIV and break down stigma.
It’s time to recognise and celebrate these unsung heroes – and we’ve made it simple to nominate someone.
This year we have five different categories for your nominees.
- Family champion
- Rural and regional communities’ champion
- Cultural and linguistically diverse communities’ champion
- First Nations communities’ champion
- Long-term survivors’ champion
Our Champion stories will be brought to life through video, imagery and words and launched at a World AIDS Day event on Friday 24 November 2023. They will be shared across social media channels to help raise awareness of HIV, address stigma and recognise the needs of people living with HIV in 2023.
WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING ALL YOUR INSPIRING STORIES. GET YOUR NOMINATION IN BEFORE THE 9 OCTOBER 2023 DEADLINE.
Why is it important to celebrate
the Community Champions?
There are currently an estimated 29,000 people living with HIV in Australia and with continued improvements in treatment and support for people living with HIV and focus on prevention through PrEP and U=U, the trend over the last five years has seen a decline in new notifications.[1]
There is however still more we need to do to ensure we get to zero new transmissions in Australia, particularly in those higher risk groups such as our indigenous and migrant communities and to help all people living with HIV in Australia to live their best life.
Celebrating the Community Champions showcases some of the incredible success stories in our HIV response and help ensure the focus and momentum on HIV remains.
[1] AFAO. HIV in Australia 2021. Available at; https://www.afao.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HIV-in-Australia-2021.pdf. Last accessed November 2021.
