Thu 4 Jun 2015 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
The country's main HIV prevention organisation says it intends to "ramp up" its work to deter gay and bi men from the risk of contracting HIV in the face of worrying HIV diagnosis figures. Annual NZ HIV diagnoses 1985 - 2014 (Gay and bi men indicated in red). Figures released this morning show a continuing rise in annual diagnoses amongst gay and bi men over the past three years, with more men diagnosed with HIV last year than in any year since figures were first collated, in 1985. Of the overall 217 newly-reported HIV diagnoses in this country last year, 136 (63%) were men who have sex with men. Eighty-six of those men contracted the debilitating virus here in New Zealand, compared to 69 in 2013. "Gay and bisexual men and other men who have sex with men (MSM) continue to be the most affected group," says The NZ AIDS Foundation's Executive Director, Shaun Robinson. “This is the third year in a row that the number of gay and bisexual men infected with HIV has increased, which is seriously concerning,” says Robinson. “While it is too early to know if this is a long-term trend it confirms the need for increased HIV prevention awareness in the community and ramp up prevention action.” He says the government-funded NZAF provides "an integrated package of HIV prevention activity focused on promoting condom use and HIV testing and treatment, particularly for men who have sex with men." "HIV prevention has been very successful in New Zealand," he says, "and we continue to have a prevalence rate amongst MSM that is one of the lowest in the world at 6.5%. This is less than half that of Australia where MSM HIV prevalence is 14%. In San Francisco it is 24% and London has close to 20% of MSM infected. “2014's results need to be seen in this overall context, but it is essential that we take the rising number of infections seriously” says Robinson. "We are determined to improve on New Zealand’s good record in HIV prevention and not to let it go backwards.” The NZAF will be ramping up prevention efforts including more promotion of condom use, encouraging more gay and bi men to get tested for HIV, lobbying for earlier access to treatment for those infected and working with targeted cultural groups. "The promotion of condoms is being taken to even more sophisticated levels to target the 20% of MSM who do not use them regularly, " says Robinson, and "HIV testing is being promoted more extensively in a wide variety of settings so as to reduce the rate of undiagnosed and late diagnosed HIV. Reducing stigma associated with HIV which will encourage testing." He says early access to HIV treatment is being advocated for people with the virus "so as to capture the benefits of their reduced infectivity a well as the health benefits for the person." The government's drug funding body, PHARMAC, "will be lobbied to fund the removal of the CD4 threshold to access treatments," and PrEP, the pre-emptive use of HIV medications by people who do not have the virus, is being explored for people are at high risk of infection and who resist condoms use. Robinson says the NZAF is stepping up its work with "specific cultural communities" to gain their support and understanding in combating HIV.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 4th June 2015 - 9:52am