Indicator 31: HIV prevalence

Core indicators for Global AIDS Response Progress Reporting have been prepared and our country’s response for 2011/12 is published at www.health.govt.nz.^[1]

Several indicators focus on people 49 years old or younger but others do not exclude older people. The Ministry of Health worked with relevant groups to prepare the report.

Since 1985, 3689 people have been diagnosed with HIV infection. Some information about people with HIV/AIDS is available by age, gender, and ethnicity. Data about HIV/AIDS is published twice a year in newsletters prepared by the AIDS Epidemiology Unit, Dunedin School of Medicine, University of Otago.^[2]

Age: Information about the infected person’s age is obtained at the time of diagnosis. The Ministry of Health calculated for us the rate of new infections per 100,000 population by age group for a single 12-month period for the year ending 30 September 2012 (see Figure 1). The rate for people aged 60+ was 0.8 (representing about four or five people) compared to a rate of 7.2 for 30-39 year olds.

Gender: Information about the infected person’s gender is obtained at the time of diagnosis. Of the people diagnosed with HIV/AIDS since 1985, about 82% were male and about 17% were female. The other 1% were trans-gender or their gender was unknown.

Ethnicity: Information about the infected person’s ethnicity is obtained at the time of diagnosis. The number of people whose ethnicity is unknown is large enough to alter the trends that are shown for everyone except European men (see Figure 2). This means that care needs to be taken when considering this information.

Data is used for health promotion, to provide peer support, to provide care and treatment, and to identify emerging issues.

HIV/AIDS is not a significant health indicator for people aged 60+.

Ministry of Health (lead)