Our latest blood donation report is available now!
On February 8 2024, the SPOTS team launched this public report on blood donation behaviours and views about the donor policy among gay, bisexual, takatāpui and other men who have sex with men in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Once again, a massive thank you to all of our participants who took part in our survey.
The SPOTS survey has now closed
You can find our
preliminary results here
A huge thank you to the 3838 people who took the survey over the last few months, and to everyone who helped by sharing it with their eligible friends, whānau and networks! This total includes more than 500 takatāpui and more than 125 Pasifika participants, with 1673 participants opting to give blood spots. Despite COVID-19 putting a stop to the in-person recruitment events we had planned, SPOTS is the largest study of its kind in Aotearoa - it’s been incredible to see the community come together online to support the kaupapa.
What's SPOTS all about?
This study is about sex between men, HIV prevention and blood donation in Aotearoa New Zealand, led by the University of Auckland and University of Otago in partnership with community organisations and the HIV sector. We previously ran this study in 2014, now we want to see what’s changed.
A major focus of the 2022 survey is understanding how we can improve blood donation policy for men who have sex with men (MSM), who are currently excluded. We also need to update our understanding of how MSM reduce their HIV risks. This includes condoms and testing, but also new tools like pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), HIV treatments and undetectable HIV viral load (U=U).
Taking part is easy. Complete your survey here. You can also provide a dried blood spot - we'll send you a kit and instructions.
We want to hear from all kinds of men who have sex with men (MSM), regardless if you identify as gay, bisexual, takatāpui tāne, pansexual, queer, straight, cis, trans or other identities. We’re also keen to hear from trans women and non-binary or gender diverse people who have sex with MSM.
Participants can be of any HIV status, ethnicity, region, relationship status, out/not out, new to the scene or long-time members of the community. We want to hear from everyone so your voices can inform future decisions about our community’s health and inclusion!
