Burnett Foundation Aotearoa

The Burnett Foundation Aotearoa national office in Auckland
NZ AIDS Foundation 'Love your condom' campaign on Auckland pride parade in 2016

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa (formerly the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF)) is New Zealand’s national HIV prevention and healthcare organisation. Its funding is derived from grants, donations and the Ministry of Health.[1]

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa has a vision of ‘an Aotearoa with zero new HIV transmissions, where people living with HIV thrive, and rainbow and takatāpui communities enjoy great mental and sexual health’ and aims to achieve this by preventing the transmission of HIV and supporting people affected by HIV and AIDS.[2]

History

Founded in 1985, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation has grown from the response of New Zealand’s gay communities to the impending HIV epidemic. It grew from the national AIDS Support Network established in 1984 by Bruce Burnett, Bill Logan and Phil Parkinson.[3]

From its earliest days as a grassroots movement, the NZAF provides a New Zealand response to HIV, bringing history, passion, knowledge, and diversity to fight the emerging trends of the HIV epidemic.

During 2009, the NZAF introduced the NZAF HIV Prevention Plan 2009-2014;[4] a significant review and redesign of the population health programme. The plan includes a clear focus on building a condom culture in New Zealand. Get it On![5] is the new social marketing programme developed and supported by the NZAF that is committed to doing that. An important part of this programme is the largest gay community event in New Zealand, the Big Gay Out.

In June 2022 NZAF rebranded to Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, in part to honour Bruce Burnett, one of the first people living with AIDS in New Zealand, but also to reflect the evolving work that the organisation does.[6]

Programmes

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa provides health and support services to people with HIV to maximise their health and their ability to maintain safe sexual practice,[7] and HIV prevention programmes targeted at the communities most at risk, including HIV and syphilis rapid testing and sexual health clinics. Burnett Foundation Aotearoa also undertakes research, strategic analysis and policy advice.

The national office of Burnett Foundation Aotearoa is in Auckland, and there are regional centres in Christchurch and Wellington. They employs more than 40 staff and has well over 100 regular volunteers.[citation needed] There are also trained professional contractors providing HIV and syphilis rapid testing and counselling in many other regions across New Zealand. Outside of New Zealand, Burnett Foundation Aotearoa manages an international development programme working with partners in the Pacific committed to the rights and health of Pacific men who have sex with men and transgender people.[citation needed]

Health Promotion

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa Get it on! uses the Big Gay Out festival as an avenue to promote safe sex and develop condom culture in New Zealand. A survey administered during the 2012 Big Gay Out festival determined that those who stayed longer were more knowledgeable and positive toward condom culture and felt that the Get it on! message was an empowering one. Survey participants also said the program "helped to educate men about safe sex" and "helped them feel good about having safe sex." [8] In 2014, Get It On! was dropped and LYC was adopted as the main message. Love Your Condom (LYC) is New Zealand Aids Foundation’s social marketing programme for gay and bisexual men. It addresses a complex mix of attitudinal, behavioural and social change amongst a community that can be difficult to define and reach. The LYC Social Marketing team talks about the programme’s history, the challenges they face and what keeps them loving what they do.[9] In 2017, New Zealand Aids Foundation dropped Love Your Condom and created a new campaign called Ending HIV. It has a goal of ending new HIV transmission in New Zealand by 2025. The campaign highlight key points including:[10]

  • Playing safe. Which means safe sex with the use of condoms and taking PrEP.[11]
  • Testing Often. Most HIV transmissions happen with people who don't know they have HIV and have unprotected sex. Testing often will diagnose people with HIV and get them onto treatment which will help stop spreading HIV.[12]
  • Treat Early. Treating early not only protects personal health, but it also reduces the chance of transmitting HIV to another person.[13]
  • Ending HIV Stigma. Stigma refers to prejudice and discrimination towards people living with HIV, their friends, partners and whānau. Even though HIV stigma was at its peak during the early days of the AIDS epidemic, many people living with HIV still experience prejudice on a daily basis.[14]

Collaborations

Positive Women Inc

Main article: Positive Women Inc

Positive Women Inc is a separate organisation that isn't part of Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, however, Positive Women is located in the Burnett Foundation building in Auckland.

Positive Sperm Bank

In 2019, Body Positive, Burnett Foundation Aotearoa and Positive Women Inc launched a sperm bank called Sperm Positive for HIV-positive people to donate.[15] This is the first of its kind in the world, which received significant media attention across the world.[16][17][18][19][20] On January 27, 2021, Amy was born who became the first ever baby to be born from a HIV sperm bank.[21] As part of the Campaign, a picture book was released called The Baby who Changed the world.[22] The campaign won a multiple awards at the Cannes Festival of Creativity.[23]

Auckland’s Puawai Festival

In 2015, the first Auckland’s Puawai Festival festival was held over a six day period to empower people living with HIV.[24] The festival was a collaboration between Body Positive, Positive Women Inc, Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho and in the later events with the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa.[25][26] The event came about when Body Positive approached Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho through performance and art.[27] The festival was held annual, generally near World AIDS Day, however, the festival has not happened since the Covid Pandemic.

See also

References

  1. ^ "Ministry of Health NZ".[dead link]
  2. ^ "Strategic Plan".
  3. ^ "Bruce Burnett - AIDS prevention pioneer - Queer History New Zealand". www.gaynz.net.nz. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
  4. ^ "New Zealand AIDS Foundation - Our Services". Archived from the original on 2 June 2010. Retrieved 27 October 2010.
  5. ^ "Great Safe Gay Sex Information Website for Gay Men in NZ from L.Y.C". getiton.co.nz.
  6. ^ "Our New Name - Burnett Foundation Aotearoa". www.burnettfoundation.org.nz. Retrieved 8 June 2022.
  7. ^ UNGASS Country Progress Report New Zealand Jan 2008-Dec 2009
  8. ^ Toledano, Margalit; Riches, Murray (2014). "Brand alliance and event management for social causes: Evidence from New Zealand". Public Relations Review. 40 (5): 807–814. doi:10.1016/j.pubrev.2014.09.001.
  9. ^ "Inside NZAF: Love Your Condom". Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  10. ^ "NZAF's new campaign 'Ending HIV' aims to eliminate new HIV infections by 2025". Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  11. ^ "Whats Safe Sex". Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  12. ^ "All About Testing". Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  13. ^ "Treating Basic". Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  14. ^ "We Can End HIV". Archived from the original on 19 February 2019. Retrieved 18 February 2019.
  15. ^ "'A wave of joy': babies born from world's first HIV positive sperm bank". The Guardian. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  16. ^ "NZAF Sperm Positive - the World first HIV Sperm Bank". Gary Steele. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  17. ^ "World-first HIV positive sperm bank launches in New Zealand". New Zealand Herald. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  18. ^ "HIV positive sperm bank launched in New Zealand". Sky News. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  19. ^ "World's first HIV-positive sperm bank opens in New Zealand". New york Post. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  20. ^ "World's first HIV-positive sperm bank opens in New Zealand". BBC. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  21. ^ "Meet Amy: The first baby born through an HIV-positive sperm bank". Renews. January 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  22. ^ "Sperm Positive". Sperm Positive. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  23. ^ "Top Honours at Cannes PR Lions". Media Design School. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  24. ^ "Auckland's First Puawai Festival". Scoop NZ. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  25. ^ "Puāwai Transforms Aotearoa's Relationship to HIV". Scoop NZ. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  26. ^ "HIV in the spotlight at Puawai Festival". RNZ. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  27. ^ "Twelve Questions with Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_AIDS_Foundation