Reconciliation in action: Gilead grants fuel community-led fight against HIV and hepatitis

Gilead Sciences Australia has unveiled the first recipients of the Guiding Local Opportunities for Wellbeing (GLOWS) Indigenous Health Grant program, a first-of-its-kind initiative that backs Indigenous-led solutions to improve community health outcomes and close the gap in HIV and viral hepatitis care.

Launched as part of a three-year, $4.4 million partnership with the Lowitja Institute – Australia’s only Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health research institute – the GLOWS program is a response to long-standing calls for culturally safe, community-driven care. It aims to support self-determined solutions to meet Australia’s national 2030 elimination targets for HIV and viral hepatitis.

The inaugural round of GLOWS funding has allocated $2.3 million in grants and public health scholarships across ten projects. Rosemary Smith, Executive Manager, Policy and Consulting, Lowitja Institute, said “GLOWS gives us two things our communities have asked for. First, it builds a pipeline of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander researchers and practitioners who can walk with our peoples on the journey to eliminate HIV and viral hepatitis.

“Second, it directs funds straight to community-controlled organisations so they can design and deliver the care models that work for our mob. This first-of-its-kind partnership with Gilead is about taking meaningful steps to replace unsuitable models of care with culturally safe, evidence-driven solutions.”

The first of two major grants, each valued at $800,000 over two years, will support a partnership between the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health, Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service (ATSICHS), and the University of Queensland to pilot a community-controlled outreach model targeting hepatitis C elimination in South East Queensland.

The second large-scale project, also led by the University of Queensland, will collaborate with Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to design a system-wide redesign of HIV and viral hepatitis care, spanning from testing to long-term management.

“Each recipient is charting a practical path to elimination while growing our own workforce of Indigenous researchers and clinicians. That’s the impact we envisaged when we created GLOWS,” Smith explained.

Despite growing Indigenous leadership in public health, stark inequities remain. HIV notification rates are still 1.3 times higher among Indigenous Australians, hepatitis C notifications are 4.5 times higher, and Indigenous Australians represent 19% of all Australian-born people living with chronic hepatitis B.

“GLOWS is how we turn our commitment to reconciliation into genuine action,” said Dr Paul Slade, Senior Country Medical Director, Gilead Sciences Australia. “By listening first and putting resources and decision-making power in the hands of Indigenous peoples and organisations, we are following their lead in tackling HIV and viral hepatitis.”

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