Three years after a irrefutable case was made by HIV organisations and specialists the NZAF is reporting to an online petition to pressure Pharmac to actually fund the recommended medication regime. Scientific research from around the world, backed up by UNAIDS, shows that there are benefits to newly-diagnosed HIV patients being immediately put onto a drug combination regime. It has been proven to have positive health outcomes for the patient. It also reduces their viral load making them almost immediately much less infectious and therefore assists greatly in reducing the number of HIV infections. The annual number of new HIV infections is currently at its highest level ever and gay and bisexual men are by far the majority of those contracting the debilitating virus. While Pharmac, the government's drug funding body, accepted the medical and scientific case almost three years ago it has yet to act on it. Those newly-diagnosed with HIV still have to wait until their immune system deteriorates significantly before being given the treatment. "HIV is most infectious during the early stages of infection yet those people on treatment, with an undetectable viral load, have an almost zero chance of passing on HIV,” says Dr Jason Meyers, Executive Director of the NZ AIDS Foundation. “Why is New Zealand lagging behind?” he asks. “It's a gross injustice that PHARMAC have been sitting on this information for nearly three years and not funded early access to HIV medicines because of 'other priorities'." The NZAF and other HIV-related organisations are urging the glbti communities to get behind the petition which can be accessed here.
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Thursday, 24th November 2016 - 11:55am