The numbers are dropping, but more work is needed if New Zealand is to reach its reduction target of locally acquired HIV infections, new numbers highlight.
The University of Otago HIV Epidemiology Group released its latest figures today, showing 80 people were first diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand in 2025.
This continues a downward trend, particularly amongst men who have sex with men, after a peak in 2016.
Excluding the two years during the Covid-19 pandemic which impacted diagnoses, the annual average from 2016 to 2024 was 128 people diagnosed with HIV in New Zealand.
Dr Sue McAllister
Group leader Dr Sue McAllister says the numbers are moving in the right direction which is a result of the hard work being done across the HIV and wider healthcare sector.
"However, locally-acquired infections have only decreased by 45 per cent overall from the 2010 baseline set by the National HIV Action
Plan for Aotearoa New Zealand which is short of the 90 per cent reduction target by 2030.
"More work needs to be done and transmission prevention efforts remain key to reaching that target," she says
Using condoms; uptake and adherence to pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); post-exposure prophylaxis (PEP); regular HIV testing; and testing for other sexually transmitted infections are some ways people can curb transmission.
Gay, bisexual, and other men who have sex with men (MSM) remain the group most affected by HIV in New Zealand.
Of the 80 people diagnosed in the country last year, 48 (60 per cent) were MSM, 18 (23 per cent) were heterosexually acquired (10 women and 8 men), and for the remainder the means of acquisition was reported as other or unknown.
Of those 48 MSM, whose ages ranged from 17 to 86 years, 35 were reported to have acquired HIV in New Zealand – which is a 50 per cent reduction compared with 2010.
"This reduction has mostly been seen in European men who have sex with men. The number in other ethnic groups has either increased or stayed the same.
"To help decrease acquisition numbers, we need to make sure culturally appropriate prevention and testing services are available to men who have sex with men of all ethnicities," Dr McAllister says.
For those who were reported to have acquired HIV heterosexually, the numbers have remained small and relatively stable during the past 10 years. In 2025, four were women diagnosed with HIV through antenatal testing.
"This shows the importance of ensuring access to HIV antenatal testing to enable women to make treatment and care decisions to decrease the risk of mother-to-child transmission."
There continued to be a large number of people notified with HIV in New Zealand who were first diagnosed with HIV overseas (137).
"These were people of all ethnicities but mostly from countries in Asia and Africa. The majority – 86 per cent – had an undetectable viral load indicating they are on antiretroviral therapy and they can't pass HIV on sexually."
In 2018 the Government removed unfair restrictions on immigration for people living with HIV, treating it the same way as other health conditions like diabetes.
This along with the increase in immigration in recent years has resulted in an increased share of cases where HIV was diagnosed overseas (with the exception of the Covid lockdown years).
However New Zealand doesn't track when people living with HIV leave the country, so the net change might not be as large.
