SPOTS Gay Sex Survey Is Back To Help End HIV Transmission In Aotearoa

The Sex and Prevention of Transmission Study (SPOTS) is back to survey the sexual health behaviours of men who have sex with men (MSM) and their sexual partners of any gender.

SPOTS is a behavioural surveillance survey developed in collaboration between the University of Auckland and Burnett Foundation Aotearoa. The survey is as important as ever amidst rising rates of syphilis transmission, as well as the need to protect our communities against mpox outbreaks.

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa Interim General Manager Alex Anderson says that this data is critical to eliminating HIV transmission in Aotearoa by 2030.

“The SPOTS survey helps inform our evidence-based approach to ending HIV transmission, and to check whether we are on track to meet the targets set out in the National HIV Action Plan.

“We are also excited about the renewed SPOTS recruitment campaign focusing on those communities who we know face inequities in access to sexual health testing and prevention methods,” he says.

The 2022 SPOTS survey indicated that takatāpui & Māori MSM, as well as Pacific MSM and MVPFAFF+, were amongst those who face higher barriers to testing and uptake of prevention methods like PrEP, a pill to prevent HIV, compared to the national average.

“SPOTS gives us insights on what we’re doing well, and where greater effort is needed to reach our communities, so that we can better target and deliver prevention services, saving the public health system costs in the long run,” Anderson says, citing recent calculations from a PWC report which showed each new HIV acquisition has a lifetime cost of $550,000.

The previous survey also faced challenges in attracting responses from transgender and non-binary people involved in connected sexual networks with MSM. The SPOTS team will be increasing their efforts to reach these communities for this round of the study.

Results from the previous SPOTS survey included a specific focus on blood donation to expand eligibility for gay and bisexual men to donate blood in New Zealand.

Associate Professor at the University of Auckland School of Population Health Peter Saxton says that he is proud that the study’s findings were able to support the move towards an individualised blood donor assessment model in New Zealand.

“It’s encouraging to see the real changes SPOTS has already accomplished for our communities and the health system in Aotearoa as a whole. But there’s more to do - we still need as many participants as possible to take part in the 2025 survey, so we can continue to help improve the work that policy makers, community organisations and health professionals are doing,” he says.

Other examples of advocacy efforts directly informed by SPOTS data have been the expansion of eligibility for the prescription of PrEP and guiding mpox vaccine delivery.

For the first time in 2025, SPOTS will also directly collect data on the uptake of vaccinations against mpox and assess participants’ awareness and uptake of DoxyPEP.

The survey is live now and will run until 15 April 2025.

Head to https://www.spots.org.nz/ to take part.

SPOTS is an ongoing behavioural surveillance programme developed in collaboration between the University of Auckland and Burnett Foundation Aotearoa. The purpose is to understand trends in HIV and STI diagnoses, monitor patterns in HIV and STI prevention and testing practices, and identify opportunities for targeted interventions to protect the health of New Zealand’s most-affected communities.

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