Coalition welcomes A.I.D.S. decision

Press, 25 August 1983, Page 2

Coalition welcomes A.I.D.S. decision

PA Wellington The National Gay Rights Coalition has welcomed the announcement of the Minister of Health, Mr Malcolm, declaring Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome to be a notifiable disease. Any attempt to control the disease and to do research for any possible cure depended on knowing who had contracted the illness and who was at risk, said the coalition’s general secretary, Mr Hugh Gaw, yesterday.

“While I welcome the fact that A.I.D.S. is now a notifiable disease, I am concerned that once again gay men have been singled out by the Minister of Health,” he said. “Mr Malcolm says that A.I.D.S. is transmitted by homosexuals with multiple partners.”

Mr Gaw said that A.I.D.S. had been reported among gay men, haemophiliacs, drug users and Haitians. However, there had been a number of cases reported where the victims had not belonged to any of those categories. “To make scapegoats of gay men is dangerous,” he said. “To try to control the disease by singling out one section of the population, when there 'is very little evidence about how the disease is transmitted, could lead to complacency in the general population.”