Nathan Lachowsky In an ironic and dangerous twist of fate improvements in HIV awareness and education brought about by advances such as Homosexual Law Reform appear to have been considerably negated by subsequent social changes and improved treatments. Commenting on his newly-released report which shows that young NZ men growing up "in a different environment" have become more vulnerable to contracting HIV than their older peers, researcher Nathan Lachowsky says for the under-30s "the spotlight appears to have gone off HIV," leading to a lessened awareness and sense of personal relevance. Lachowsky, a Canadian researcher studying for a year with the University of Otago’s AIDS Epidemiology Group, is drawing on his just-released data based on long-term research of factors surrounding NZ's continuing HIV epidemic and from causal research from similar nations. He says improved social perceptions around being gay or bi have been created by Law Reform, Civil Unions and pther "positive social messages" such as increased visibility of gay people in many parts of society. But the development of more effective treatments which lessen the damaging effects of HIV in the lives of those infected, coupled with a lessening in individuals' "connectedness to broader gay communities" brought about by social media such as Facebook, Twitter and internet dating," have considerably lessened HIV awareness for many young men. "Having rights is one thing but being better educated is another," says Lachowski. He notes that despite being first identified 25 years ago "HIV is not now any less of a concern." Lachowsky's observations are borne out by the NZAF's own analysis of ongoing research data which in recent times has indicated that, for example, more than a quarter of men aged under 25 "did not know or were unsure of the fact that HIV cannot pass through an intact latex condom... and were unaware that oral sex is a low risk activity for HIV transmission." Older men are much more aware of this type of information. Lachowsky believes HIV awareness and education will need "more money and community support" if it is to successfully tackle emerging trends underlying the current increase in HIV diagnoses. These programmes must be specifically targetted at gay and bi men "because we have different risks and realities compared to heterosexuals." You can discuss this New Zealand glbti community news story in the GayNZ.com Forum.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Tuesday, 25th October 2011 - 11:51am