World Aids Day: Silent killer's revival needs urgent action

Dr Peter Saxton is the inaugural New Zealand AIDS Foundation Fellow at the School of Population Health, University of Auckland.

The world's most dangerous infectious disease epidemic of the modern era is reviving, but are we prepared in New Zealand?

The trends are disturbing. Last year New Zealand recorded the highest number of annual HIV diagnoses ever - the fourth increase in a row. Many of these are recent infections.

This World Aids Day, more individuals are living with HIV in New Zealand than ever before.

Experience tells us that HIV evades control when we let down our guard. This virus has killed 40 million people worldwide. Two and a half million people contracted HIV in 2015.

Media hype aside, three decades later we still have no vaccine and no cure.

Treatment for HIV is effective but expenditure on anti-retrovirals is soaring, doubling in the last six years from $16.8 million in 2011 to $32.8 million in 2016. It's estimated that one person diagnosed with HIV at age 20 in New Zealand could cost Pharmac more than $800,000 in anti-HIV treatments over their lifetime.

Given these statistics it's hard to argue that we have the upper hand.

That's why experts agree that prevention makes so much sense, scientifically, morally and fiscally.

We know prevention works. It should be accessible to those who need it most. And for every new infection averted, we can redirect the savings towards other pressing health issues. Investing in HIV has a broad payoff.

Read the full story on the NZ Herald.

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