The New Zealand AIDS Foundation has released figures backing up its cautious belief that its intense focus on HIV prevention may have started to slow the recent surge in the HIV epidemic. Figures released twice yearly by the AIDS Epidemiology Group at the University of Otago show that in the first six months of 2011 there was a 23 per cent decrease in new diagnoses of HIV in New Zealand among gay and bisexual men. By the end of June 2010, 43 gay or bisexual men had been diagnosed with HIV compared to 33 by the end of June 2011. The NZAF's social marketing programme, Get it On! was launched in September 2009. NZAF Executive Director Shaun Robinson says the best scientific research and evidence available said that appealing marketing and a powerful online presence on the sites that gay men actually go to would increase rates of condom use. "These figures show that this approach was the right one and it’s beginning to pay off," he says. Robinson says a key ingredient in turning around the epidemic is increased testing as well as making condoms and lube accessible to the people most at risk of HIV. “In the last three months, HIV testing at the NZAF has risen by 9 per cent compared to this period in 2010. Similarly, in 2009 we distributed 300,000 free condom and lube packs. This year we expect to hand out around 500,000 – that’s a lot of condoms." Robinson is cautious about being too optimistic. "Epidemiology is measured over five or ten years so we can’t read too much into these stats yet. But I’m hopeful that our prevention strategy is working. If people from the communities most at risk of HIV keep using condoms and lube we may have some very good news in the New Year."
Credit: GayNZ.com Daily News staff
First published: Monday, 19th December 2011 - 4:46pm