People are less likely to open their wallets for AIDS charities than they are for charities benefiting children, the elderly and animals, Australian gay and lesbian newspaper SX News reports (sxnews.net.au).

A survey conducted by the career networking site LinkMe found that respondents were three times less likely to give funds to charities benefiting people living with HIV/AIDS than to those funding children’s programs.

“There was a dramatic downturn in people spontaneously donating to HIV/AIDS in 1996 when antiretrovirals came along,” AIDS Council of New South Wales CEO Stevie Clayton told SX News. “Before then, they could see people were obviously sick and dying around them, losing family, friends and partners. Now it’s seen as being much more under control, less of a crisis.”