Part 4: How we lost so many Our Forgotten Epidemic

By the mid-1980s, knowledge of HIV and AIDS had entered the public consciousness. Safer sex practices and prevention messaging were being promoted by advocacy and support groups, medical organisations and the government.

But an HIV diagnosis was still considered by many to be a death sentence. There was no treatment in those years, and, for most, the only support that could be offered was grief counselling and palliative care.  

Jane Bruning, Bruce Kilmister and Michael Stevens, long-term survivors living with HIV, share their experiences and reflections on the most challenging chapter of the HIV and AIDS response here and across the globe.


Thanks for listening to Our Forgotten Epidemic, a show about Aotearoa New Zealand’s response to HIV and AIDS, and some of the many brave individuals who changed the course of history.

Burnett Foundation Aotearoa is proud to be able to tell part of this important story from the perspectives of some truly remarkable people. And we want to acknowledge there’s so much more than we can tell in this short series. 


Our Forgotten Epidemic was produced by Wavelength Creative, in collaboration with Burnett Foundation Aotearoa.
Written and researched by Alyssa Partington, Matt Bain and Dr Jason Myers.
Music composed by Alex Cox | alexcoxmusic.com
Hosted and narrated by Dr Jason Myers.
Many of the voices you’ve heard in this episode are from a series of interviews conducted by Dr Cheryl Ware in 2019 for the New Zealand AIDS Foundation Oral History Project.
Many thanks to Pride NZ for allowing us to use portions of an interview with Jane Bruning. You can listen to this interview in full, alongside many others, at PrideNZ.com
Thanks to all the NZAF staff members who contributed their voices to the ‘Quilts’ section.
Special thanks to our test listeners including staff living with HIV at Burnett Foundation Aotearoa, Gareth Watkins, the Lesbian and Gay Archives of New Zealand and PrideNZ.com
Special thanks also goes to Peter Davis for his excellent book, Intimate Details and Vital Statistics: AIDS, Sexuality and the Social Order in New Zealand.

This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.