Aids educators say one reason for the increase is that New Zealanders have developed "a pill mentality".
"No matter what life's problems, we are encouraged to think the solution lies in medicine," said Steve Attwood, communications co-ordinator for the New Zealand Aids Foundation. "Many believe that even if they contract HIV a pill will keep them alive."
He said in the early days of the HIV epidemic, the near certainty of an early and unpleasant death from HIV infection was a huge motivator to people to adopt safe sex practices. "Since the advent of much improved medications in the late 1990s, HIV has begun to seem less serious. The number of Aids-related funerals has dramatically dropped. Ironically, this makes HIV less visible in the communities affected."
However, he said while medication allowed many people with HIV to live full and active lives, there was no guarantee it would prevent death. "Living on up to 30 pills a day is not easy. If you miss even a few doses, your HIV could mutate into a drug-resistant strain and the medicines will stop working."
Aids Foundation statistics show New Zealand's domestic HIV epidemic is still largely among men who have sex with men. Of the New Zealanders diagnosed with HIV last year, 89 were homosexual, 35 were heterosexual males and 38 heterosexual females. Fifteen were intravenous-drug users and six were children. Almost all of the heterosexuals diagnosed in New Zealand contracted their HIV overseas.
The foundation also believed internet dating had contributed to the increase in HIV infections in New Zealand. "(The internet) is now by far the biggest medium in which men meet men for sex. Internet dating exposes people to more opportunities for sex than they would in `real life' – going to bars and clubs. With more opportunities comes a higher probability that you will hook up with someone who is not into safe sex," said Mr Attwood.
He said it was difficult to promote safe sex on the internet because it was expensive. "In earlier times it was easy to take the safe sex message to gay men meeting in bars and clubs, but we can't put these resources into people's homes, which is where they are when they meet on the net."
The Aids Foundation is also concerned about the rise in HIV in Pacific nations. Papua New Guinea has had a 30 per cent increase in HIV each year since records were kept. Other Pacific countries are experiencing high increases.
"If HIV in the Pacific is not nipped in the bud before it becomes an epidemic, it could have an influence (in New Zealand) later on."
