Fri 21 Oct 2016 In: New Zealand Daily News View at Wayback View at NDHA
Nigel Dickson The NZ AIDS Foundation has released the names of the five people who will receive honorary Life Memberships, the highest honour the organisation bestows. Those who will receive Life Memberships at a ceremony on November 5th are: Associate Professor Nigel Dickson of Otago University Medical School has been involved in quantifying the HIV epidemic since it first emerged in New Zealand in the mid 1980s. One of the most significant figures in the AIDS Epidemiology Group which generates HIV-related statistics, Dickson is one of the most respected figures in Australasia on the subject of HIV and AIDS epidemiology. Bruce Kilmister is a past NZAF board member and, through his helming of the Body Positive HIV-positive people's support and advocacy organisation has for many years an outspoken spokesperson for the needs of those living with and affected by the virus. he was also a major player in the fight for decriminalising homosexual intimacy, a vital component of HIV prevention work amongst those most affected by the epidemic, gay and bisexual men. Jane Bruning is the long-time director of the Positive Women peer support and advocacy organisation and has been HIV-positive since 1988. She is a regular speaker to community and professional organisations on subjects associated with HIV-infection. Anna Reed retired earlier this year after three decades of coordinating the New Zealand Prostitute's Collective's work in Christchurch. She has been a fearless advocate for the rights of, and respect for, people with HIV or at risk of contracting it. Reed notably refused an NZAF Life Membership in 2010 as a protest against the honour also going that year to the controversial Auckland transgender and sex worker rights worker Mama Tere Strickland. Geoff Rua'ine is a past NZAF sexual health educator who has worked particularly with Polynesian communities in this country and the Pacific. He was a key staffer of the now-closed Hamilton NZAF office, was one of the group which steered Hamilton Pride into being and more recently has been providing health services to prisoners through the Department of Corrections. Life Memberships are awarded by the NZAF board "as recognition of an outstanding contribution by individuals who have positively enhanced and substantially contributed to our mission over a significant period of time."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Friday, 21st October 2016 - 11:14pm