MEDIA ADVISORY – RAINBOW LABOUR

Labour to fund PrEP, Help End HIV

“If a drug can tackle any serious illness with a 92% success rate, you’d expect the government to fund it,” says co-chair of Rainbow Labour, Ian Pattison.

“Taken daily, pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been proven to reduce an HIV negative user’s risk of contracting the virus by over 90%.

“The ripple effect this could have for our nation cannot be overlooked. That is why I am proud that Labour, as part of our roll-back of National’s $1.7 billion cuts to the health budget, is the first political party to promise the funding of PrEP in this country.”

Pattison feels the announcement made by party leader, Andrew Little at this year’s Big Gay Out, heralds an exciting year for the connection between rainbow kiwis and New Zealand’s oldest political party.

“2017 is Rainbow Labour’s 20th anniversary. Two decades of supporting LGBTI New Zealanders, celebrated by the wider Labour party announcing the funding of PrEP and gifting their support to the New Zealand AIDS Foundation goal of ending HIV in Aotearoa by 2025.

“It doesn’t get any better than that.”.

With funding access to early treatment for those diagnosed with HIV also promised by Little, Labour looks to remove the stresses in rainbow health created by a severe decline in the number of STD focussed health professionals and skyrocketing rates of HIV diagnoses - 224 in 2015 alone.

“Labour is founded on the values of equality, fairness and justice for kiwis,” adds Pattison. “PrEP delivers on all three for rainbow New Zealanders, so it only makes sense that we are the ones to pick up the phone.”

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