Woman 'still here to see grandkids grow' welcomes free HIV treatment in SA

Life-changing HIV medication made free in SA in step welcomed by advocates Wed 1 Jul 2026 at 6:21am In short: From today, antiretroviral treatment (ART) for people living with HIV will be made free in South Australia. The medication is already free across most of the country, but until now, people in SA have been out of pocket up to $30 a month. What's next? For South Australians like Kath Leane, who was diagnosed with HIV almost 40 years ago, removing the cost will help reduce stigma. When Kath Leane was diagnosed with HIV in 1987, she was given just 12 months to live. "My son was four, and I was pregnant, so that was a real shock," she said. "I never thought I'd see my kids grow up, and now here I am, still here to see my grandkids grow up." Ms Leane credited her survival to antiretroviral treatment (ART), which emerged in 1996 and stopped HIV from replicating in the body. It allowed people to live longer, healthier lives. More than 30,000 Australians live with HIV, with most of them taking the life-changing antiretroviral treatment. From today, the treatment will be available from public hospital pharmacies in South Australia at no cost, regardless of a patient's Medicare status. ART is already free across most of the country, but until now, South Australians have been out of pocket by up to $30 a month. "I've met people who say: 'Well, I'm not on medication because I can't afford it'. It's like, we need everyone on medication," Ms Leane said. Typically taken as one or multiple daily tablets, ART can decrease the amount of virus to such low levels that it is undetectable. Multiple clinical trials, including a large international study led by Australia's Kirby Institute, found that the virus was not transmitted to partners when the viral load was undetectable. This means it is not passed on to sexual partners, which helps to prevent transmission during pregnancy. "I remember it being referred to as the prevention revolution at the time, it was incredible evidence," SHINE SA chief executive Holley Skene said. "For people living with HIV, that was just such brilliant, welcome, comforting, reassuring news. "For so long, the anxiety of passing on HIV potentially to your partners was overwhelming for so many people, it greatly impacted their mental health and wellbeing." Treatment shouldn't be 'dependent upon bank balance' SA Health Minister Blair Boyer said the government was spending about $213,000 each year to provide greater access to the medication and planned for that to be a permanent change. "We don't think people's ability to be able to access important treatment like this for HIV should be dependent upon their bank balance," he said. "It also promotes more people doing it so we can reduce that level of transmission and detection in the community." When asked why ART had not been made free sooner, Mr Boyer said stigma could have influenced the unequal treatment of HIV compared to other medical conditions. "It's a really sad thing I think that … government might have felt like they wouldn't be providing taxpayer money towards the free access to medication, because of the stigma that comes along with HIV," he said. "I don't think that's right and I'm proud that this government has moved away from that thinking." The free treatment has been welcomed by HIV advocates like Ms Leane, who is also the president of Positive Life SA. However, she said the majority of HIV-positive people were aged over 50 and preferred to get their medication from their local pharmacies. "When [ART] was first an option, people said, 'I'm not going to a pharmacy near where I live and have all the neighbourhood knowing all my business', but people and the chemists have been really creative with ensuring people's privacy and confidentiality,"she said. "We can't [take it to a community pharmacy] at the moment, but within 12 months, they hope to address that so you can take it wherever you like." Ms Leane is hopeful free medication will help reduce stigma and educate the broader community about HIV transmission and treatment. "Undetectable equals untransmissible, and I am desperate to get that message out into the mainstream," she said. "I'm so lucky because most of the joy in my life now comes from my relationship with my three grandchildren. "I didn't expect that to happen."