Giving HIV drugs to healthy gay men could help eradicate the virus from New Zealand.
A recent UK study shows it could dramatically cut new infections, but the gay community here is treating it with caution.
New Zealand has managed to keep HIV rates relatively stable over the past decade, but following a recent spike in infections the AIDS Foundation says new interventions are needed.
There are additional interventions that we can now put alongside condom use, and it actually makes it possible that we could end HIV and AIDS in New Zealand, says NZ AIDS Foundation executive director Shaun Robinson.
There are nearly 3000 New Zealanders living with HIV. Of the 217 diagnoses in 2014, two thirds were gay or bisexual men.
A new study shows that giving HIV drugs to those at high-risk would cut new infections in the UK by 44 percent. In London, one in eight gay men has HIV.
PrEP, or pre-exposure prophylaxis, is a new HIV prevention method in which people who do not have HIV, take daily drugs to stop the virus from taking hold.
It's available in the US and France, and the UK is considering funding it, but it's not yet available here. Some in New Zealand's gay community say it should be.
"That message of safe sex hasn't got through to a lot of gay men so giving something that can prevent HIV infections for at-risk men I think is a really good thing," says Tim Davison.
But others are wary. Many people 3 News spoke to were concerned it would promote unsafe sex.
"It might reduce rates of HIV but there is the other issue around the lack of condoms and possibly an increase in other STIs," one person says.
"I don't want to see the condom culture reduced or minimised," another says.
Condom use is very high in New Zealand, but around 20 percent of the gay and bi population don't use them enough to make them effective.
The AIDS Foundation is pushing for PrEP to be made available and funded for this group, but warn it shouldn’t be used as an alternative to condoms.
PrEP is useful, but in fact the biggest priority and most useful response is increasing testing and getting people onto treatment immediately, says Mr Robinson.
Mr Robinson says the combination of condoms, testing, treating and PrEP could see an end to the HIV epidemic in New Zealand in a year.
3 News
