Sir Graham Henry, Sir Ashley Bloomfield, Sir Buck Shelford, boxing champ Mea Motu, comedian Angella Dravid, Dame Sue Bagshaw and Real Housewives of Auckland star Anne Batley-Burton are backing the campaign. Photo: Supplied
- As many as one in three Kiwis have the virus that leads to genital herpes
- Up to 80 percent of New Zealanders will get genital or oral herpes at some stage in their lives
- To mark Global Herpes Awareness Day on 13 October, the New Zealand Herpes Foundation has launched a campaign to help destigmatise the virus, starring some very familiar faces
Sir Ashley Bloomfield is back to fighting a virus - but not the one you associate with lockdowns and 1pm updates.
Alongside Sir Graham Henry, Sir Buck Shelford, boxing champ Mea Motu, comedian Angella Dravid, Dame Sue Bagshaw and Real Housewives of Auckland star Anne Batley-Burton, he's fronting a campaign for the New Zealand Herpes Foundation, launching on Sunday.
The household names are teaming up to explain what herpes is, how common it is, whether you need to be worried or feel awkward about it, and how to help fight the stigma associated with the sexually transmitted infection (STI).
Up to 80 percent of New Zealanders will get genital or oral herpes at some stage in their lives, but research shows most of us are too afraid of judgement to talk about it.
A survey conducted by researcher TRA on thousands of people around the world showed that more than a third of Kiwis believed they would be treated differently by their friends and family if it was known they had herpes.
That's despite the fact that 26.8 percent of women and 17.3 percent of men in New Zealand will have genital herpes by the time they're 38. However, more than 80 percent of people with herpes won't have any symptoms at all.
Bloomfield says the shame associated with herpes could have a "profound" psychological impact on many and can leave people feeling isolated.
"The problem is not people, the problem is the virus. And we need to focus on the virus rather than making people feel bad about the fact they've had an infection," he says.
"Thirty percent of all Kiwis diagnosed with the herpes virus experience depressive or suicidal thoughts. This is a problem we can solve, which is pretty rare these days. Let's make New Zealand the best place in the world to have herpes."
Professional boxer Mea Motu tells the Herald she often gets cold sores after fights, and judgmental looks because of them.
Mea Motu. Photo: RNZ
"People would look at me because of all my sores on my lips and to me, like, it was just normal," she says.
"The fact that people are like, you know, comfortable commenting on that and pointing it out to someone is nuts. And I just find it so disgusting that people want to belittle people for simple little sores.
"Those sorts of things pop up when you're run down, when you're feeling a bit s***, and then on top of that people point them out and make you feel even worse.
"If we can normalise it and let it be okay, then it gives people the courage to be like, 'There's nothing wrong with me', and then they're able to step outside and still be themselves."
It's something Motu wishes she'd seen when she was a teenager.
"I wish that I heard someone like me talk about it and normalise it because it would have given me the courage to speak up."
Her message to anyone feeling embarrassed is, "Don't live in shame and be true to who you are. Don't let anyone insult you or make you feel discouraged, because at the end of the day, they're the ones with the problem, not you."
About herpes in New Zealand
The herpes simplex virus. Photo: (Public Domain Dr. Fred Murphy, Sylvia Whitfield, USCDCP)
According to the World Health Organisation, an estimated 3.7 billion people under the age of 50 have the HSV-1 virus, or oral herpes, while an estimated 491 million from the ages of 15 to 49 have genital herpes, or HSV-2.
HSC-1 causes 50 percent of genital herpes through physical contact, while HSV-2 is generally caused by contact between genitals. About 20 percent of people with HSV experience symptoms, while 75 percent of those with genital herpes get it from people who don't know they have it themselves.
The Herpes Foundation's Alaina Luxmoore - who got herpes herself in her late 30s - says that for most people, the shame of having herpes is worse than the symptoms of the virus itself.
"Every day we speak with people dealing with feelings of shame, self-loathing, and social isolation. People who are finding their sex lives and dating lives disrupted. And for what? Not from any physical impact from the infection, but from the shame and stigma that we as a society associate with this diagnosis," she says.
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- This story was first published by the NZ Herald