The Annual Report is available to download here or upon request from the Positive Women Victoria office.

Positive Women Victoria held our Annual General Meeting on Thursday 29th October at the Queen Victoria Womens Centre, celebrating 21 years of support and advocacy for women, a great milestone. After CEO Kerrilie Rice conducted member business and board nominations, our supporters, family and friends were welcomed to the meeting. Carolyn Briggs, an Elder of the Boon Wurrung language group welcome us to country and spoke about the strength of women. Carolyn is the Elder Spokesperson and Chair of the Boon Wurrung Foundation Limited.  The Boon Wurrung people are the traditional owners of the country that starts at the Werribee River and extends east, through part of the city of Melbourne and as far east as Wilson’s Promontory. Bev Greet, Chair of Positive Women Victoria presented an overview of Positive Women Victoria’s 2008/2009 achievements:

“The number of women diagnosed with HIV has increased, but I am heartened by the fact that we have survived as a vibrant organisation to offer the support advocacy and camaraderie newly diagnosed women will need on their journey. This year has been a year of change for Positive Women Victoria. Dawn Wilcock resigned in May after three years at the helm moving on to a new position. We thank her for her work and wish her every success in her new position. Kellie Madge stepped up to the plate in the interim and has done a fabulous job. She remains on board and is doing an excellent job editing the newsletter and among other tasks, she organised the Annual General Meeting. Michelle Wesley, our support worker, continues to provide empathetic support to newly diagnosed women and ongoing peer support, fulfilling our basic mission; to decrease the effects of stigma and isolation for Positive Women who still suffer considerable discrimination. Kerrilie Rice was appointed as our new CEO in July, bringing with her an impressive background in women’s health. Kerrilie has displayed what a great asset she is to the organisation.”

“Positive Women Victoria’s annual retreat held in May, brought together both old and new members, to share their stories, belly dance and even get a massage. Hopefully forming friendships to sustain them throughout the year. In addition, our regular peer support dinners are attracting higher numbers and providing the chance for women to stay connected and further consolidate the benefits of a peer support network. Sem and I are both members of Femfatales, a group of women within the National Association of People Living with HIV/AIDS (NAPWA), where we have the chance to inform and influence national policy with reference to HIV-positive women’s issues. To progress our role as advocates on health and wellbeing issues concerning positive women, we are working to align ourselves more closely with other women’s health organisations.”

“As a women only organisation exclusively concerned with women with HIV, we are well placed to represent HIV-positive women particularly in the context of the Integrated Health Promotion Plan on which we will work with Straight Arrows and People Living with HIV/AIDS Victoria (PLWHA Vic). All of our board members have now undergone governance training and have expressed a strong commitment to our organisation. I feel very confident about the next twelve months. We hope to run a National Positive Women’s Conference in 2010 and must turn our attention to fundraising to make this happen as well as support our peer support, education and advocacy programs.”

“This year we sponsored two women to attend the Asia-Pacific regional AIDS conference (9th ICAAP) in Bali. This gave them the opportunity to develop a view of the situation in the region but also to report directly back to us about the relevant issues. This year we celebrated our 20th anniversary with the launch of our history book Positive Women – celebrating 20 years of advocacy and support for women and families that are living with HIV in Victoria. I wish to thank the members of the board and the staff for keeping Positive Women on the rails through a time of great change. In conclusion I would particularly like to thank Annie Phelan our Patron. Thank you for your commitment, support and your work to raise the profile of Positive Women Victoria. I am confident that with the team we have Positive Women Victoria will continue to flourish in the coming year. Thank you.”

The AGM keynote speaker Dr. Susan Paxton, member of Positive Women Victoria has been living with HIV for two decades and is an advocate for the rights of all people living with HIV. Susan is an independent HIV consultant and is passionately committed to training HIV-positive people throughout the Asia Pacific region, particularly young women. She is an Advisor to APN+, the Asia Pacific Network of People Living with HIV, and was the Australian representative on the network from 1996-99. Susan carried the Olympic Torch on behalf of HIV-positive people for the 2000 Olympic Games. For APN+, Susan wrote “Lifting the Burden of Secrecy – A Manual for HIV-positive People Who Want to Speak Out in Public”, which has now been translated into eight languages. She was also responsible for the first documentation of AIDS-related discrimination in Asia. Susan’s academic research demonstrates the significant impact of HIV-positive women as AIDS educators, as well as the challenges to meaningfully involving HIV-positive people in the response to AIDS. She has recently conducted research for APN+ on positive women’s access to HIV services in Asia. Susan recently wrote “Diamonds”, a book and DVD of stories of women living with HIV from the Asia-Pacific region. Dr Paxton spoke of the process of creating her book and documentary and attendees were treated to the Australian premiere of the documentary, a series of powerful and moving stories by positive women.

Kerrilie Rice closed the meeting: “Women’s business and women’s voices are at the heart of what we do.  That Susan’s documentary gives voice to a group of culturally and linguistically diverse women makes it particularly important as we see a growing number of culturally and linguistically diverse women in Victoria being diagnosed positive. The most recent data shows that of the 357 women diagnosed with HIV in Victoria in the last 15 years, 58.5% of them were born overseas.”  And as the organisation comes of age in its 21st year, we are looking forward to new and more collaborative ways to responding to the needs of positive women throughout the state. I would like to say thank you to our Chair, Bev Greet and all our board members for their ongoing commitment throughout the year; to Annie Phelan for always being there. I would like to add my thanks to our invaluable donors and volunteers; and to the wonderful staff, we couldn’t do it without you.”