STI rates continue to decline across New Zealand
New Zealand has reported a significant decline in STI rates for 2025, particularly among men who have sex with men. However, health officials warn that inequities persist for Māori and Pacific communities and that antimicrobial resistance remains a growing concern.
Why it matters
The data highlights the success of targeted public health interventions while underscoring the ongoing challenge of health disparities and drug-resistant infections.
Rates of gonorrhoea, chlamydia and syphilis in New Zealand decreased in 2025, according to the latest national surveillance data published by the New Zealand Institute for Public Health and Forensic Science (PHF Science).
Compared with 2024, infectious syphilis rates fell by 27 percent, gonorrhoea by 17 percent and chlamydia by 13 percent. Rates were the lowest recorded for infectious syphilis since 2022, gonorrhoea since 2018 and chlamydia since before 2015.
The largest reductions in syphilis and gonorrhoea were seen among men who have sex with men (MSM), likely due to improvements in STI prevention, testing, treatment and contact management. Increased use of doxycycline post-exposure prophylaxis (doxy-PEP) among MSM may have also contributed.
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