The Burnett Foundation Aotearoa (formerly the New Zealand AIDS Foundation (NZAF)) is New Zealand’s national HIV prevention and healthcare organisation. Its funding is derived from grants, donations and the Ministry of Health.[1]
The Burnett Foundation has a vision of ‘a world without AIDS’ and aims to achieve this by preventing the transmission of HIV and supporting people affected by HIV and AIDS.
Founded in 1985, the New Zealand AIDS Foundation has grown from the response of New Zealand’s gay communities to the impending HIV epidemic. It grew from the national AIDS Support Network established in 1984 by Bruce Burnett, Bill Logan and Phil Parkinson.[2]
From its earliest days as a grassroots movement, the NZAF provides a New Zealand response to HIV, bringing history, passion, knowledge, and diversity to fight the emerging trends of the HIV epidemic.
During 2009, the NZAF introduced the NZAF HIV Prevention Plan 2009-2014;[3] a significant review and redesign of the population health programme. The plan includes a clear focus on building a condom culture in New Zealand. Get it On![4] is the new social marketing programme developed and supported by the NZAF that is committed to doing that. An important part of this programme is the largest gay community event in New Zealand, the Get it On! Big Gay Out.
In June 2022 NZAF rebranded to the Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, in part to honour Bruce Burnett, one of the first people living with AIDS in New Zealand, but also to reflect the evolving work that the organisation does.[5]
The Burnett Foundation provides health and support services to people with HIV to maximise their health and their ability to maintain safe sexual practice,[6] and HIV prevention programmes targeted at the communities most at risk, including HIV and syphilis rapid testing and sexual health clinics. The Burnett Foundation also undertakes research, strategic analysis and policy advice.
The Burnett Foundation National Office is in Auckland, and there are regional centres in Christchurch and Wellington. The NZAF employs more than 40 staff and has well over 100 regular volunteers. There are also NZAF-trained professional contractors providing HIV and syphilis rapid testing and counselling in many other regions across New Zealand.Outside of New Zealand, the NZAF manages an international development programme working with partners in the Pacific committed to the rights and health of Pacific men who have sex with men and transgender people.
The Burnett Foundation's Get it on! program uses the Big Gay Out festival as an avenue to promote safe sex and develop condom culture in New Zealand. A survey administered during the 2012 Big Gay Out festival determined that those who stayed longer were more knowledgeable and positive toward condom culture and felt that the Get it on! message was an empowering one. Survey participants also said the program "helped to educate men about safe sex" and "helped them feel good about having safe sex." [7] In 2014, Get It On! was dropped and LYC was adopted as the main message. Love Your Condom (LYC) is New Zealand Aids Foundation’s social marketing programme for gay and bisexual men. It addresses a complex mix of attitudinal, behavioural and social change amongst a community that can be difficult to define and reach. The LYC Social Marketing team talks about the programme’s history, the challenges they face and what keeps them loving what they do.[8] In 2017, New Zealand Aids Foundation dropped Love Your Condom and created a new campaign called Ending HIV. It has a goal of ending new HIV transmission in New Zealand by 2025. The campaign highlight key points including:[9]