Mon 24 Oct 2011 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Nathan Lachowsky Younger New Zealand men who have sex with men are more likely to have fewer sexual partners than their older counterparts, but are less likely to use condoms with their casual sex partners. In past years it has been shown that the more mature men were the main group vulnerable to contracting HIV due to slippage in their commitment to condom use. The new research, just released, implies young men must be encouraged to take a more realistic view of issues around HIV infection. The worrying information was revealed late last week by Auckland-based student Nathan Lachowsky of the University of Otago’s AIDS Epidemiology Group. Lachowsky studied 9000 respondents to the Gay Auckland Periodic Sex Surveys and Gay men’s Online Sex Surveys conducted between between 2006-2011. The young gay and bi men, aged under 30, were revealed to generally have less knowledge about HIV transmission, and are more likely to trust that a person who knows they have HIV will disclose the fact before having sex with them. Conversely, the younger men are more likely to use condoms with their boyfriends. “Younger MSM in New Zealand are growing up, coming out, and living in a different environment than their predecessors,” Lachowsky says. “These young men differ in important ways from older MSM, but realizing the similarities and shared experiences are just as important.” HIV Positive men's advocacy and support organisation Body Positive has in the past pointed out that most men who have HIV take care not to infect others, but there is a significant pool of men who have contracted the debilitating virus who are unaware they have it. “Research is an important way of building knowledge and evidence for future sexual health promotion and HIV prevention work,” says Lachowsky. “It also helps us build a case to advocate for greater funding for future research with our sexual minority community, which is greatly needed.” Lachowsky is completing his PhD in epidemiology at the University of Guelph in Canada, but is in New Zealand for one year on a Rotary International Ambassadorial Scholarship to conduct research on New Zealand men who have sex with men, a project undertaken in association with Otago and Auckland Universities. You can discuss this New Zealand gay community news story in the GayNZ.com forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 24th October 2011 - 8:57pm