Pictured: Dr Peter Saxton at the release of the study results

The results of the Get It Wet study that came out last week reveal some startling statistics. You can read all about it here, but here’s the bare bones of it.

Of the 1000+ samples that were taken at Big Gay Out, gay bars, saunas and sex-on-site venues, 67 positive tests came back. Of those 67, 14 people thought they “definitely” or “probably” didn’t have HIV. 
The odds of a man who has sex with a man (MSM) having sex with someone with HIV are now down to one in 15, while the odds of meeting a man who has HIV and doesn’t know it are sitting at around one in 80, according to this report. A sobering statistic? Here’s hoping. 


Dr Peter Saxton, the author of the study, says that those with undiagnosed HIV more more likely to have had many partners in the past six months (either 6-20 or 20+), were more likely to engage in unprotected sex and were likely to have met men on the internet. They also generally answered that they had been tested for HIV in the past 12 months, meaning they sit in the highly infectious timeframe of HIV – the first few months of infection.


NZAF executive director Shaun Robinson laid it all out on the table in a phone conversation the other day. “If you walk into a bar and there’s 100 guys there, chances are that 1 in 15 will have HIV, and one or two guys there will have it and not know. Would you really want to risk it?” Apparently, because in 2010, the largest number of new HIV infections were recorded among MSM.


Shaun, and Peter, and anyone with a stake in the health and wellbeing of the community, hope that Get It On! is working and there are more condoms on cocks around the country. Sure, there are a lot of guys out there who are seeing the messages, reading the statistics and playing it safe… but the next guy they fuck might not be.


So on the eve of the Big Gay Out, Bear New Zealand Week and that celebration of love that is Valentine’s Day, we here at express ask that you please get it on before you get it on. These new reports show that the odds of you being dealt a life-changing hand are higher than ever. 


Hannah JV

editor@gayexpress.co.nz


For information on testing, visit www.nzaf.org.nz or www.bodypositive.org.nz.