Aotearoa officially the best place in the world to have herpes

A public health campaign by the New Zealand Herpes Foundation and Motion Sickness has achieved its goal: Aotearoa is now officially ‘The Best Place in the World to Have Herpes.’

In October, the New Zealand Herpes Foundation launched ‘Make New Zealand the best place in the World to Have Herpes’, aimed at healing the social stigma around the common and largely benign Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV). 

The campaign featured a multi-part online course fronted by an all-star cast of NZ celebs who answered pressing questions like “is herpes scary?”, “how common is it?” and “how to not make herpes awkward?” 

After eight weeks of hard work, Aotearoa has officially vaulted itself to the top of the global list, elbowing out the Aussies and Swedes on the way. 

Aotearoa’s prestigious place at the top of the global ranking was determined by measuring the number of people who had completed the course in each country, as well an OECD omnibus survey led by research agency, TRA.

People from around the world spent 10,776 hours consuming the educational content – equivalent to over a year’s worth of time – and the campaign received 12.7m impressions. 

The survey found that over 69% of the people that completed the course reported a reduction in their feelings of stigma towards herpes. 

Over 86% of course participants said they now feel more comfortable discussing herpes openly. And 81% of viewers felt motivated to support others with herpes after engaging with the campaign. 

Alaina Luxmoore of the New Zealand Herpes Foundation says the success of the campaign will make a huge difference in the lives of the hundreds of thousands of New Zealanders with a herpes diagnosis.

“While this campaign has been a lot of fun, it has also provoked a very important conversation in New Zealand. Herpes is incredibly common across the world, but for too long it has been a reason for shame and stigma. By starting the conversation, and promoting education and acceptance over ignorance and fear – people with a herpes diagnosis know they are safe and accepted in New Zealand,” Luxmoore said.

As an example of the way the campaign changed hearts and minds around the country, 75-year-old Julie from Levin said “When I first heard about this campaign I thought; For goodness sake this has nothing to do with me. I don’t have herpes and I’m not going to be catching it. But a friend convinced me to watch the videos – they were clever and funny and after watching them my attitude to herpes has changed”.

The New Zealand Herpes Foundation campaign has battled against the rampant stigma and misinformation, and successfully made New Zealand the best place in the world to have herpes.

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