The Pacific Islands AIDS Foundation is closing down after the New Zealand government withdrew its core funding, raising worries people living with HIV in the Pacific will be more vulnerable to discrimination, and advocacy and prevention measures could disappear. Founder Maire Bopp has told Radio New Zealand International the immediate impact of the closure is that a group of HIV positive people and their families will be left without a strong regional voice. “That then will lead to an absence of advocacy and visibility of HIV and its issues. At a human level, the loss of advocacy could imply that HIV prevention will slow down and potentially disappear and the issue around HIV treatment will regress.” The New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade says it determined that a more effective use of New Zealand’s funding would be to support the Pacific Regional Strategy on HIV and other STIs, and PIAF was eligible to apply for funding through this mechanism. Read more here
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 1st April 2013 - 2:51pm