The 2022 round of SPOTS was the first HIV behavioural surveillance survey in Aotearoa New Zealand since 2014, and the first to be conducted under the SPOTS brand. It was led by Waipapa Taumata Rau University of Auckland (UoA) and the University of Otago in partnership with community orgs and the HIV sector.

SPOTS 22 was a key point in understanding how men who have sex with men (MSM) reduce their HIV risk as there were a number of changes in the HIV space since 2014, including changes in HIV treatment and HIV PrEP becoming publicly funded in NZ. Alongside these changes, we continued to collect behavioural data on things such as condom use, and number of partners. We also asked participants about their COVID-19 vaccination status. SPOTS 22 also collected Dried Blood Spots (DBS) to test for HIV, you can read more about the DBS below.

A major focus of the 2022 round was understanding how we can improve blood donation policy in Aotearoa New Zealand for MSM. The teams at UoA and Otago worked with the New Zealand Blood Service to develop questions related to blood donation that asked about fairness of the 6 month deferral period for MSM, and their likelyhood to donate blood under different scenarios. You can read more about the findings and results from this part of the study below.

SPOTS 22 was granted ethics approval by HDEC (2021 EXP 11450). If you have any ethical concerns about this research, you can contact the health and disability ethics committee (HDEC) on 0800 4 ETHICS or email them at hdecs@moh.govt.nz

SPOTS 22

We’ve done so much with the data from SPOTS 22, you can find more on our Findings page. But here’s a small selection:

SPOTS 22 Key Publications

SPOTS 22 Summary Tables

Blood Donation Community Report

SPOTS 22 Research Brief

New Zealand Blood Service is one step closer to introducing individualised donor assessments

SPOTS 22 asked some additional questions about blood donation for MSM in Aotearoa New Zealand around the current 3 month deferral policy, desire to donate, and likelihood of becoming a blood donor under a variety of donor policy settings. You can read a detailed analysis of the results from the blood donor part of SPOTS 22 in the Community Report. We want to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped create this report, including the 3253 participants across the country who gave us their time and experiences.

In January 2022, NZ Blood Service Chief Medical Officer Dr Sarah Morley announced at the SPOTS Symposium that the Blood Service would shift to an Individual Donor Assessment (IDA). This is an excellent step in creating a more equitable health system.

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