This is the sixth national HIV strategy to be adopted in Australia. It builds on five previous strategies which guided Australia’s response to HIV and AIDS between 1989 and 2009. It is also one of a suite of five strategies aiming to reduce the transmission of sexually transmissible infections (STIs) and blood borne viruses (BBVs), and the morbidity, mortality and personal and social impacts they cause. The relationship of the Sixth National HIV Strategy 2010–2013 (this strategy) to the other four strategies is detailed in section 1.2.