It was a tear-jerking moment...
THOMAS: "I'm living with HIV."
A secret Wales rugby legend, Gareth Thomas, had kept for years.
But in speaking out he's hoping to change lives, and help save them.
THOMAS: "I choose to fight, to educate and break the stigma."
It's a stigma that has thousands of Kiwis living in fear.
OLIN: "It's so underground..."
"Everytime that I meet someone, and they say I haven't told anyone..."
"It's like, 'What?'"
"And they even say to me like this..."
[WHISPERING]: "I haven't told anyone."
"It's just that fear that a lot of people have of saying it out loud.
Rodrigo Olin was diagnosed with HIV 16 years ago, when he was 20.
OLIN: "People tend to change their attitudes to me..."
"Or they just have literally told me..."
"'I'm not interested to get to know you'...'
"For example, because you've got HIV..."
"It's a very strong rejection because there's nothing wrong with me..."
"It's more about their perceptions."
He's lost friends because of it...
And he's never told his family in Mexico.
He says for people living with HIV...
Gareth Thomas's example could be life-changing.
OLIN: "Seeing a sport public figure of that calibre..."
"Coming out and saying..."
"I'm coming out because I want to take control of my life..."
"It's inspiring."
"I think it will just make us stronger..."
"Rather than let us die alone or without sharing a secret..."
"Because it's basically it's a secret for all of us."
"It is a secret."
Now a new project wants more people to share that secret.
The Stigma Index is a national survey...
Seeking to understand the impact of HIV stigma...
And find ways to reduce it.
The study will interview 200 people living with HIV across New Zealand.
More than 100 countries are already running it...
And for the first time it will be conducted here.
BRUNING: "We have a huge problem with HIV stigma in New Zealand..."
"And part of that is because it's a low prevalence country..."
"Which is great..."
"But what happens with that is that..."
"There are so few people with it they feel isolated and afraid."
Some of the early data shows devastating impacts...
From people losing their jobs, losing relationships...
And becoming socially isolated...
Poor mental health and wellbeing...
And discrimination in the health sector.
Examples of that discrimination include...
Being put into isolation...
Demeaning comments...
And even dentists being reluctant to treat them.
BRUNING: "The most damaging thing that can happen..."
"Is that people will be afraid to even get tested."
Stigma remains a barrier to testing...
And if they don't get tested, they don't get treated.
Testing is a simple finger prick blood test...
And modern medicines make the levels of the virus so low it cannot be passed on...
Even with unprotected sex.
There are around 3500 people living with HIV in New Zealand.
178 people were diagnosed last year.
Gay and bisexual men remain most at risk.
But 15 percent were infected through heterosexual contact.
A delay in diagnosis left Heather Sangster Smith legally blind.
A then-teacher in her 50s...
She didn't fit the mould of someone at risk of HIV.
After years of getting sicker, she was on the brink of dying...
When eventually they found out why.
SANGSTER SMITH: "They tested for a particular type of pneumonia..."
"Called PCP, which Freddie Mercury had..."
"And the doctor said to me..."
"Well, we've really got to test for HIV because..."
"PCP pneumonia is a strong indicator..."
"And it was like..."
"Pardon, what are you talking about?"
Five years on, and on treatment...
She's otherwise well.
She wants to share her story to educate others.
SANGSTER SMITH: "A lot of us live in ignorance..."
"I was ignorant."
"We're just not a medical condition..."
"We're real people living real lives."
OLIN: "We have really good treatments..."
"But what indeed is still killing us is stigma."
It's now hoped that with more people sharing their HIV secret...
It's the stigma that will be killed.