Positive Women Inc

Last updated

Positive Women Inc.
AbbreviationPWI
Formation1990
Type Nonprofit
Legal statuscharity
PurposeHIV/AIDS
HeadquartersPositive Women
Location
  • Auckland, New Zealand
Coordinates 36°50′51″S174°44′56″E / 36.8474815°S 174.7488798°E / -36.8474815; 174.7488798
OriginsNew Zealand
ServicesDrop-In Centre
Free Rapid HIV Testing
HIV+ Peer Navigation
Bi-monthly newsletter
Annual retreat for women living with HIV
Advice and referral service
Family/whānau hui every two years
Teen camp
Positive Speakers’ Bureau training
Peer support groups and workshops
Official language
English
Key people
Jane Bruning (National Coordinator)
Website positivewomen.org.nz

Positive Women Incorporated (established in 1990) peer support organisation providing care and support to women and heterosexual people living with HIV/AIDS in New Zealand, as well as advocating and combat stigma surrounding HIV. [1]

Contents

Formation and leadership

Positive Women was formed when women in New Zealand began to test positive for HIV during the 1980s. [2] Two social workers, Judith Ackroyd and Suzi Morrison, who worked for the Community AIDS Resource Team (CART) at Auckland Hospital, created a peer support group which met on a monthly basis. Eventually Positive women grew to what it is today. [2]

Positive Women was formed in 1990, however, it became an incorporated society and non profit organisation in 2001. [2] In 2003, the two volunteer coordinators quit Positive Women, however, in 2004, Jane Bruning became the full-time employed national co-ordinator after a Special general meeting that voted to have an employed coordinator. [2] [3] [4]

In 2017, Jane Bruning was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for her contributions to the support and care of women living with HIV in New Zealand. [5]

Events

Women's retreat

In 1998, Positive women began their women's retreat, which gives women who live with HIV to come together and build community, as well as, getting educated on the current climate of HIV. [2] The retreat has been shown to have a positive effect on the women living with HIV who attend. [6]

National HIV Treatment Seminar

Positive Women Inc host an annual seminar focusing on Women living with HIV In New Zealand. [7] This generally happens the same week as the annual Women's Retreat that Positive women hosts. [7] Every year, the seminar features educational sessions and inspiring speakers from the healthcare community, researchers and people living with HIV. [7] However, the focus of the seminar is education, especially for health professionals, health promoters, counsellors, psychologists, nurses, doctors, social workers and anyone else with an interest in the HIV sector, as well as people living with HIV. [7]

Auckland’s Puawai Festival

In 2015, the first Auckland’s Puawai Festival festival was held over a six day period to empower people living with HIV. [8] The festival was a collaboration between Body Positive, Positive Women, Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho and in the later events with the New Zealand Aids Foundation (now known as Burnett Foundation). [9] [10] The event came about when Body Positive approached Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho through performance and art. [11] The festival was held annual, generally near World AIDS Day, however, the festival has not happened since the Covid Pandemic.

Positive Sperm Bank

In 2019, Body Positive, New Zealand Aids Foundation and Positive Women launched a sperm bank called Sperm Positive for HIV-positive people to donate. [12] This is the first of its kind in the world, which received significant media attention across the world. [13] [14] [15] [16] [17] On January 27, 2021, Amy was born who became the first ever baby to be born from a HIV sperm bank. [18] As part of the Campaign, a picture book was released called The Baby who Changed the world. [19] The campaign won a multiple awards at the Cannes Festival of Creativity. [20]

Other Campaigns

In 2009, Positive Women released a campaign revealing the faces of four women who are living with HIV. Over two months the womens profiles were appearing on buses, in women’s magazines and websites as part of a destigmatisation campaign being mounted by Positive Women Inc. [21] This campaign has expanded with Positive Women urging women to get tested for HIV as not enough women in New Zealand get tested. [22]

Services

Positive speakers bureau

One of the service that Positive Women coordinate is the Positive speakers bureau. This service supplies businesses, health organisation and schools with HIV related education. [23] This is done by members of the HIV positive community telling their story in aiming to raise awareness and reduce HIV stigma and discrimination. [24] [25] [26]

Te Taenga Mai

Te Taenga Mai is an umbrella brand under Positive Women which aims to provide HIV prevention and support in Aotearoa for migrants, refugees and asylum seekers. [27] Part of this service is providing free condoms to the community, which they have given out over 10,000 free male condoms and 1,100 free female condoms in the first half of 2024. [28]

Bibliography

Picture book

See Also

References

  1. ↑ "Stigma and women living with HIV: A co-operative inquiry". Research Bank. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "Positive Women Inc". New New Zealand History. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  3. ↑ "My job: National co-ordinator for Positive Women". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  4. ↑ "Living with HIV is no death sentence". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  5. ↑ "QUEEN'S BIRTHDAY HONOURS 2017 - CITATIONS FOR OFFICERS OF THE NEW ZEALAND ORDER OF MERIT". New Zealand Government. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  6. ↑ "Positive Women: A Community Development Response to Supporting Women and Families Living with HIV/ AIDS in Aotearoa New Zealand" (PDF). Unitec. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  7. 1 2 3 4 "Aotearoa New Zealand HIV Seminar returns to Tāmaki Makaurau". New Zealand Doctor Rata Aotearoa Online. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  8. ↑ "Auckland's First Puawai Festival". Scoop NZ. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  9. ↑ "Puāwai Transforms Aotearoa's Relationship to HIV". Scoop NZ. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  10. ↑ "HIV in the spotlight at Puawai Festival". RNZ. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  11. ↑ "Twelve Questions with Borni Te Rongopai Tukiwaho". New Zealand Herald. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  12. ↑ "'A wave of joy': babies born from world's first HIV positive sperm bank". The Guardian. 17 December 2021. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  13. ↑ "NZAF Sperm Positive - the World first HIV Sperm Bank". Gary Steele. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  14. ↑ "World-first HIV positive sperm bank launches in New Zealand". New Zealand Herald. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  15. ↑ "HIV positive sperm bank launched in New Zealand". Sky News. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  16. ↑ "World's first HIV-positive sperm bank opens in New Zealand". New york Post. 27 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  17. ↑ "World's first HIV-positive sperm bank opens in New Zealand". BBC. 28 November 2019. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  18. ↑ "Meet Amy: The first baby born through an HIV-positive sperm bank". Renews. January 2022. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  19. 1 2 "Sperm Positive". Sperm Positive. Retrieved 31 July 2025.
  20. ↑ "Top Honours at Cannes PR Lions". Media Design School. 15 July 2021. Retrieved 1 August 2025.
  21. ↑ "Positive Women". Stuff NZ. 15 December 2009. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  22. ↑ "Women in New Zealand are getting hiv but arent getting tested". ReNews. 12 March 2020. Retrieved 11 August 2025.
  23. ↑ "About Us". Positive Speakers’ Bureau. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  24. ↑ "Official Website". Positive Speakers’ Bureau. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  25. ↑ "Living with undetectable HIV: The virus is no longer a death sentence, but some stigma remains". Stuff NZ. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  26. ↑ "Kiwi women with HIV: Mum of two speaks out". Womens Day. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  27. ↑ "About the programme". Te Taenga Mai. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
  28. ↑ "Te Taenga Mai - Free Condom Programme". Positive Women. Retrieved 13 August 2025.
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