On The Up: Burnett Foundation names Liz Gibbs as new boss to lead NZ towards HIV-free future
'I'm excited about this new role,' Gibbs told the Herald.
'I aim to ensure that we achieve the goal of making history by helping Aotearoa New Zealand become the first country in the world with no new HIV transmissions.'
Backed by a strong background in charity and philanthropy, with experience working in impact-driven organisations and advising all sides across Parliament's aisle, Gibbs is set to lead the Burnett Foundation (formerly the NZ Aids Foundation) through the next phase of Aotearoa's HIV response.
The Foundation has provided Kiwis with HIV prevention tools, advocacy and care for over 40 years.
It was renamed after Bruce Burnett, whose successful Aids education and awareness efforts in 1980s New Zealand helped secure the first Government-issued funding for the Foundation before his own Aids-related death.
'Our work in this space on preventing HIV transmission, combating stigma and maximising the wellbeing of those most affected by HIV ... continues to be really important in Aotearoa.'
The Ministry of Health published a National HIV Action Plan in 2023, targeting zero local transmissions and Aids-related deaths by 2030, along with ending stigma and strengthening support for people living with HIV.
That same year, the Burnett Foundation expanded its remit to align with the plan's goals while broadening sexual health support to all rainbow and Takatāpui communities.
'We want to ensure that nobody gets left behind in our HIV response,' Gibbs said.
'There are still issues, as we're probably all aware, of stigma and discrimination.'
The Burnett Foundation is therefore needed to provide 'continued support for people living with HIV' and help 'create an Aotearoa where the LGBTQIA+ community is free to live, free to love, and free from the stigma, fear and isolation of HIV'.
While the number of new HIV diagnoses in New Zealand rose from 67 in 2021 to 97 in 2023, the latest numbers reflect a 30% drop from the 2016-2020 average of 138 diagnoses.
It's a sign of the Foundation's progress, but also a reminder that gaps remain.
New Zealand is falling behind some of its international partners, where biomedical advances have seen new treatments like long-acting injectables provide greater security for those living with HIV.
Gibbs wants her leadership to accelerate Aotearoa's HIV response, and ensuring equitable access to treatment and prevention tools - particularly for rural, Pasifika and other underserved communities - will be one of her priorities.
'My approach is very much a values-driven, strategic, and collaborative approach,' Gibbs said, before highlighting the ways the Burnett Foundation could lower public health costs through prevention and generate greater outcomes for taxpayers.
One example included a social impact bond piloted by the Elton John Foundation in the UK, which funded routine HIV testing for over 265,000 emergency department patients.
The initiative led to 500 early diagnoses and huge public health cost savings to the tune of £90 million ($200m).
It's 'money well spent' with a 'good return on investment', Gibbs says, and resulted in the UK pouring £20m ($44.5m) back into the programme to expand emergency department testing to other vulnerable areas.
'I think there's a really interesting opportunity here in New Zealand to use more of a social impact approach,' Gibbs said, noting great early detection and treatment for those affected translates into cost savings for Kiwi taxpayers too.
A Burnett Foundation analysis found that for every dollar invested in its services, the New Zealand public saves just over $5 in public health costs related to avoided HIV acquisition.
And while Gibbs seeks to employ fresh research, new treatments and innovation to improve equity outcomes in the new role, she remains inspired by the Foundation's legacy, the growth in HIV awareness, and the momentum building for a people-first sexual health movement in New Zealand.
'[I'm excited] to be a part of an organisation that's part of New Zealand's DNA, increasingly ... promoting the equity and diversity of our communities and the richness that brings,' Gibbs said.
'We could be the first in the world to [achieve zero HIV transmission], you know, that would be incredible.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Scoop
a day ago
- Scoop
IAS Announces Rio De Janeiro As Host City For AIDS 2026
3 June 2025 (Geneva, Switzerland) – IAS – the International AIDS Society – announced today that AIDS 2026, the 26th International AIDS Conference, will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and virtually from 25 to 30 July 2026. Between 7,000 and 10,000 people are expected to attend. 'We are at a critical turning point in the HIV response as shifting geopolitical dynamics and funding uncertainties threaten decades of progress,' IAS President and AIDS 2026 International Co-Chair Beatriz Grinsztejnsaid. 'With AIDS 2026 just four years before the 2030 deadline for global targets, the HIV response hangs in the balance. An evidence-based, resilient, fully funded HIV response requires us to rethink, rebuild and rise. 'We have made significant strides, but the HIV response must urgently adapt, innovate and reinforce community-driven solutions to maintain access to prevention, treatment and care. As the world's largest conference uniting people living with, affected by and working on HIV, AIDS 2026 will be pivotal in protecting the progress we have made and charting a path forward, together.' Brazil has long been committed to a science-driven, human rights-based approach to HIV, and was the first low- or middle-income country to provide free access to highly active antiretroviral therapy to people living with HIV in the late 1990s. It has participated in important HIV studies, including HPTN 083 and PURPOSE 2, which demonstrated high efficacy of long-acting injectables cabotegravir and lenacapavir for HIV prevention, and the Mosaico vaccine trial. It also coordinates large PrEP implementation studies, such as ImPrEP, ImPrEP-CAB LA and ImPrEP LEN. 'Brazil has made remarkable progress in its HIV response, particularly in the field of prevention,' AIDS 2026 Local Co-Chair Draurio Barreira, the Director of the Department of HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, Viral Hepatitis and Sexually Transmitted Infections at Brazil's Ministry of Health, said. 'We adopted the Treat All policy in 2013 and rolled out HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis in 2018, which has resulted in AIDS-related deaths falling by 18% since 2010. Our Unified Health System has cushioned the broader impact of the funding crisis, making Brazil an ideal setting to rethink the global HIV response at AIDS 2026.' UNAIDS data show uneven progress in Latin America. The number of AIDS-related deaths has fallen by 28% since 2010 – but increased among women in several acquisitions increased by 9% between 2010 and 2023 – and by 20% among men who have sex with men, 42% among sex workers and 19% among trans women. 'Hosting AIDS 2026 in Latin America gives us the chance to bring attention to the most neglected groups,' Regional Co-Chair Claudia Cortes, an IAS Governing Council member and Associate Professor at the University of Chile, said. 'These include migrant and refugee populations, as well as Indigenous communities – Latin America is home to some 500 ethnic groups. We will also highlight the situation of women in a region where the epidemic predominantly affects men and where many affected women remain invisible and unacknowledged.' AIDS 2026 will bring together leading scientists, policy makers, grassroots activists and people living with, working in and affected by HIV. To ensure broad access, the IAS will support participation through a comprehensive scholarship programme and significantly discounted registration rates for young people and delegates from lower-income countries. It will also provide free online access to all major sessionstwo monthsafter the conference. Registration for AIDS 2026 will open in November 2025. For more information about AIDS 2026, visit
The Spinoff
2 days ago
- The Spinoff
The Spinoff Essay: A bit of pain
'I'm lucky; I've had it for only five years or so.' David Hill on living with chronic pain. The Spinoff Essay showcases the best essayists in Aotearoa, on topics big and small. Made possible by the generous support of our members. I ache. I'm sore, nearly all the time. I'm one of the estimated 900,000 New Zealanders who suffer from chronic pain. Chronic or neuropathic pain is usually defined as pain that's lasted for more than three months. I'm lucky; I've had it for only five years or so. Multiple thousands of Kiwis have suffered for decades, or their entire life. More statistics. Over 40% of people in the UK are thought to suffer, at various times and to various degrees. (The US estimates almost 50%.) For over-75s in Britain, the figure lifts to 65%. About 80% of this is back and neck pain. In Aotearoa, a 2018 report from research group Sapere suggested that chronic pain costs our health system some $2 billion annually, plus another $15 billion in lost production and benefit costs. Utterly predictably (think housing, working conditions, $60 for a GP visit, $75 for a physio session), it affects lower socio-economic groups more. Oh, and (think trad Kiwi male stereotypes this time), women are more likely to report it than men. In my case, it's cervical spondylosis with foraminal narrowing and radiculopathy. I like to roll out the phrase so I can watch listeners' eyes cross as they wonder how much time I've got left. English translation: my neck is stuffed. Age, plus bad posture at the keyboard, means the cushioning discs between cervical vertebrae have worn thin. Bone spurs have formed. My mobility is limited; I get deep pain in the neck and between shoulder blades, plus intermittent giddiness. I've gone into detail because, like most sufferers – and I dislike that word – I usually don't say much about it. People with chronic pain get little sympathy. Who wants to hear about an ailment that goes on and on, especially when it usually comes with no bandages, slings, plaster, other visible signs of affliction? Like Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Long Covid, it's easily seen, even by some health professionals, as self-pitying, even malingering. ' Whatever happened to 'pull yourself together'?' I heard one sceptic sniff, after an acquaintance had vented over his months of continuing hip and leg discomfort. It's the least telegenic of ailments; if we do appear on screen, we're usually caricatured as boring old whingers who need to snap out of it. ' It's all in your head,' is another common dismissal. True. Also stupid. Of course it's in the head, because that's where the brain's pain receptors are. We don't register any injury or discomfort till those receptors fire. Trouble is, if the pain continues for more than a few hours, your pre-frontal cortex starts assessing the sensation in terms of what it may mean long-term, and begins reinforcing the synapses associated with stress and discomfort. The brain's 'pain switch' gets stuck in the ON position, and your body becomes convinced of its distress. Neurologist William Davies notes that 'pain carves a path directly between the realms of mind and body'. It's called Control Sensitisation: just as Pavlov's dogs slobbered when a bell rang, almost any tug or tension for a chronic pain sufferer sends those brain receptors into power drive. It means that pain can become a habit, and like many unpleasant habits, it's hard to get rid of. A cycle of discomfort – sleep deprivation – stress – more discomfort and more stress can become established. Withdrawal and depression may follow, with the symbolic Black Dog liable to squat and crap on any of your days. So yes, it is all in the head, and it's utterly genuine. There have been some curious associated discoveries. Women's limbic system responds to pain more than men's, so women often experience greater emotional distress, while the fact that men's pre-frontal cortex is more affected means they may see the issue primarily as a problem to be analysed. And chronic pain may be exacerbated by apparently unassociated events; Brexit, the Covid pandemic, even the Trump presidency saw a rise in reported cases. You're right: the Orange Roughy can indeed become a pain in the arse. Bad news for the next few years. Chronic pain victims make unrewarding patients, even to sympathetic doctors – and not all are. Symptoms are frequently vague and diverse. We're the unwell who can sometimes seem well. Our GPs ask questions, refer us to specialists who ask more questions, at $2 per syllable, rule out nastier possibilities if you're lucky (and that is indeed a help), and usually intone variations on the theme of 'y ou'll have to live with it'. I sympathise with them, actually: as with Chronic Fatigue or Long Covid, we seldom give them the satisfaction of finding a specific cause. So chronic pain is a formless and often unresponsive condition. It can take a long time to get a diagnosis, and it seldom comes with any clear path of action. It can be treated, but seldom cured – whatever that last word may mean. What are the treatments? Painkillers, anti-inflammatories of course, though all of them, except perhaps paracetamol, come with potential side effects. A TROUP (Trends and Risks of Opioid Use for Pain) study in the US found that 22-26% of people prescribed opioids for non-malignant chronic pain ended up misusing their drugs. Distraction, meditation, exercise, diet, therapy, physio and chiropractic, the analytical and shared talk of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy are other courses of action – and action is an early step to taking some degree of control. The New Zealand Pain Society (you'll find them online) offers sensible, practical programmes and resources. Complex Chronic Illness Support, also online, can help as well. Our local hospital used to run chronic pain workshops, where physio, dietitian, psychiatrist, counsellor would reassure attendees that they weren't malingerers; it was a genuine ailment, and here was a list of things that might help. They're the only workshops I've ever attended where some participants stood up every 10 minutes and lay down in the aisle for a bit. They were enormously valuable for their collegial quality, finding that you weren't the only sufferer. They've been discontinued – more funding cuts at Whatu Ora, I gather. Alan Gordon in his book The Way Out estimated that in 2021, there were 1.2 billion chronic pain sufferers worldwide. The number is rising: we're living longer and hurting for longer periods. Other contributing factors include people expecting to be pain-lite and becoming more inclined to seek help when we're not, plus our living in an increasingly isolated society, where loneliness aggravates almost any condition. The outlook isn't great. The future, for me at any rate? Keep learning – in the most positive sense of the verb – to live with it. Take unexpected solace from the fact that on good days, the world can seem brighter and more rewarding than it did before my neck started to pack up. And wonder if assault with the nearest deadly weapon might be a pretty reasonable response to anyone who tells me that it's all in my head.
Scoop
2 days ago
- Scoop
‘HIV Should Not Be A Death Sentence In Fiji' – Call For Testing Amid Outbreak
Article – RNZ There were 490 new HIV cases in Fiji from October – December last year. Fiji's Minister for Health & Medical Services has revealed the latest HIV numbers in the country to a development partner roundtable on the country's response. There were 490 new HIV cases from October – December last year, bringing the 2024 total to 1583. 'Included in this number are 32 newborns diagnosed with HIV acquired through mother-to-child transmission,' Dr Atonio Rabici Lalabalavu said. Fiji declared an outbreak of the disease in January. The Fiji Sun reported around 115 HIV-related deaths in the January-September 2024 period. Fiji's Central Division reported 1100 new cases in 2024, with 427 in the Western Division and 50 in the Northern Division. Of the newly recorded cases, less than half – 770 – have been successfully linked to care, of which 711 have been commenced on antiretroviral therapy (ART). Just over half were aged in their twenties, and 70 percent of cases were male. Dr Lalabalavu said the increase in HIV cases is also seeing an increase in tuberculosis and HIV co-infection, with 160 individuals in a year. He said the ministry strongly encourages individuals to get tested, know their status, and if it is positive, seek treatment. And if it is negative, to maintain that negative status. 'I will reiterate what I have said before to all Fijians – HIV should not be a death sentence in Fiji.' In the Western Pacific, the estimated number of people living with HIV (PLHIV) reached 1.9 million in 2020, up from 1.4 million in 2010. At the time, the World Health Organisation said over the previous two decades, HIV prevalence in the Western Pacific had remained low at 0.1 percent. However, the low prevalence in the general population masked high levels of HIV infection among key populations.
