Executive Director of NZAF, Shaun Robinson, says World AIDS Day is just as important now as it ever has been and believes we have the ability to end HIV transmissions within the decade. World AIDS Day was observed yesterday and is held annually on the 1st December as an opportunity for people across the world to untie in the fight against HIV, to show their support for people living with HIV and to commemorate those who have died. Robinson says: “World AIDS Day is as important now as it has ever been, but for new reasons. It is not just a reminder that HIV and AIDS has been and continues to be the most devastating pandemic the world has seen for 100 years it is now a focal point for the fact that that epidemic could actually come to an end, right here in New Zealand.” “With a combination of continued condom use, more testing, immediate access to treatment and PrEP we can end HIV transmissions within a decade. That goal has never been so close to realisation and it has captured peoples imagination and energy.” NZAF volunteers were out on the streets on Friday collecting for World AIDS Day and Robinson says: “It is always great to see the energy of the volunteers who collect on the street, it’s great to get money for the wellness fund and other support for people living with HIV but for me this year it is the media interest in ending HIV. “We can’t achieve that goal without government coming on board and providing the new tools so it was heartening to see good media coverage of the necessity to get rid of the CD4 threshold that stops people going onto treatment as soon as they are diagnosed,” he says. “There is excitement around World AIDS Day now because things are changing; it a day to take big forward steps as well as remember our past.”
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Wednesday, 2nd December 2015 - 2:24pm