The Andrews Victorian government has announced a pilot project which will place HIV-positive peer workers in high caseload Melbourne clinics to support people living with HIV (PLHIV).

The $300,000 project will be led by Living Positive Victoria and will run from 2018-2020. The project was announced by Health Minister Jill Hennessy at the World AIDS Day launch at The Doherty Institute on Friday morning.

Living Positive Victoria interim CEO Suzy Malhotra said spoke of the significance of harnessing the experiences of people living with HIV (PLHIV) in responding to HIV.

Of the approximately 7800 PLHIV in Victoria, 90 per cent know their status but 15 per cent are not on anti-retroviral treatments and over 20 per cent do not have controlled virus levels.