SUMS: Hoare -- Modelling HIV in Australia (A. Hoare’s Guide to STIs)

Hello everyone, 

Thank you to everyone who turned up to the talk last week, once again Ivan gave a very
interesting talk on a rather well-known topic (BTW the princess problem was awesome, if
you weren’t there and want to know what it is, ask Ivan).  Like I said last week, we
will be returning to the usual starting times that we had in Semester 1.  

This week we have a special guest from a far away land (UNSW).  Although, I should point
out that our speaker Alex did his honours at Sydney Uni so he may be familiar to a
couple of you older dudes.  Anyway he will be talking about modelling HIV in Australia
(an applied topic for once!), and like the nice person that he is, he has sent me an
abstract: 

Mathematical models are playing an increasing role in informing governments on public
health issues.  The National Centre in HIV Epidemiology and Clinical Research (NCHECR)
was initially set up to fight the growing problem of HIV in the 1980s, but has since
evolved to look at other STIs and provides input on government health policy.  One of
the tools used by NCHECR is mathematical modelling, and one of the most recent
applications of modelling was to investigate the recent observed increases in HIV.  We
used a novel ODE based model to investigate possible causes for this increase, and we
incorporated the latest epidemiological, clinical, behavioural, and biological data into
the model.  What we found was surprising and based on our results the health departments
around Australia are taking steps toward thwarting this new resurgence in HIV.  

Don’t be scared by the complex-sounding abstract, I know Alex in real life and he is
really quite a simple fellow.........  

Topic: Modelling HIV in Australia Speaker: Alex Hoare Location: Carslaw 451 Date/Time:
Friday August 8, 1-2pm 

Hope to see you there! 

Gareth 

"For every fatal shooting, there were roughly three non-fatal shootings.  And, folks,
this is unacceptable in America.  It’s just unacceptable.  And we’re going to do
something about it." - George W.  Bush