--- title: "New Zealand Opens World’s First HIV-Positive Sperm Bank" description: "Three charities have launched the world's first sperm bank for HIV-positive donors called Sperm Positive in New Zealand. Three men have already signed up." date: "2019-11-27" modified: "2019-11-27" authors: - name: "Victor Tangermann" job_title: "Senior Editor" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/victor" url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/new-zealand-worlds-first-hiv-positive-sperm-bank" categories: - "Developments" - "Health & Medicine" tags: - "AIDS" - "HIV" - "hiv treatment" --- # New Zealand Opens World’s First HIV-Positive Sperm Bank ![Three charities have launched the world's first sperm bank for HIV-positive donors called Sperm Positive in New Zealand. Three men have already signed up.]() *\Image: NIAID\* Ahead of World Aids Day, three charities have launched the world's first sperm bank for HIV-positive donors in New Zealand, the [*BBC* reports](). The facility, called Sperm Positive, could help fight the stigma that still surrounds the illness. Three HIV-positive men have already signed up. The men have such a low level of the virus in their blood that the illness cannot be transmitted through either sex or reproduction, according to the *BBC*. [According to UNAIDS](), there's "20 years of evidence demonstrating that HIV treatment is highly effective in reducing the transmission of HIV," meaning that "people living with HIV with an undetectable viral load cannot transmit HIV sexually." The sperm bank will provide clients in touch with local fertility clinics once they find a match. "I know what joy children can bring, I love having them around," Damien Rule-Neal, a New Zealander who was diagnosed just under 20 years ago who donated to Sperm Positive, [told *Radio New Zealand*](). "I feel like now we've got the science behind it to say that medication makes you untransmittable and that people can go on to have children, as I've seen a lot of my female friends that have HIV go on to have children, it shows that science and medication have given us that ability back." HIV is still a major global health problem. While there are effective treatments, they're expensive — and there still is no cure. According to UNAIDS, there were about [38 million people]() worldwide with HIV/AIDS in 2018. Only about 62 percent were able to access antiretroviral therapy globally. ## Author I've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing. I've always been fascinated by space exploration and advanced transportation, which I've leaned into by interviewing luminaries in those fields while closely following the dimensions of policy and regulation that allow next-generation projects to succeed -- or, sometimes, to fail. I'm also keenly interested in the effects of generative AI on society, policies, and democratic institutions, as well as clean energy, physics and biology, and the vagaries of tech leadership. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Ars Technica, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Jalopnik, Fox News, and the New York Post. I spent my childhood living in locations including Manila, the Philippines, and Geneva, Switzerland, attended McGill University, and now live in Toronto, Canada. Before Futurism I worked at AskMen and a small photography studio. In my free time, I'm an avid gardener, foodie, and craft beer lover, as well as a maker of artisanal hot pepper sauces. I have a magnificent dog named Freida. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()