Prostitutes Collective Contracts Remain The Same
Dr Don Matheson, Deputy Director-General of Public Health
Current Ministry of Health contracts with the Prostitutes Collective do not contain provisions seeking lobbying by these
groups for Members of Parliament for law change.
These contracts remain largely unchanged since the mid-nineties.
The Ministry contracts with a number of public health groups to advocate to improve the health of New Zealanders across
a range of activities from reducing drug use to the promotion of practices to reduce cot death and child injury. In this
instance the contracts with the Prostitutes Collective are to help reduce the spread of sexually transmitted diseases
such as HIV/AIDS for groups such as prostitutes and their clients which are difficult to communicate with by other
methods.
Limiting the spread of disease in high risk groups such as prostitutes and their clients, is vital for controlling the
spread of the disease to the wider community.