Wellness Fund Application Criteria

A) Small Grants

• Up to $500 per annum available
• Designed for people on low incomes
• Covers health-related costs such as fees incurred by GPs, massage, podiatry, physiotherapy, osteopathy, acupuncture, naturopathy, nutritionists, dieticians, dentists, opticians or other health-related needs
• These grants can be allocated in either a lump sum or a series of payments to the total of $750 per annum. Applications in this category are generally processed within two working days of receipt.

Supporting material needed

• You will need a community services card, issued by Work and Income New Zealand. To see if you are eligible, visit their site
• Quotes for treatment from the GP or specialist concerned.

B) Special Grants - Health Care

This grant has been suspended - see Changes to the Wellness Fund below.

C) Travel Grant

This grant has been suspended.  However, travel grants of up to $500 are now covered under the Small Grants catagory - see Changes to the Wellness Fund below.

How to apply for assistance

Applications are made by completing an application form (enclosing any relevant supporting materials) and forwarding it to the Wellness Fund Account Manager at the New Zealand AIDS Foundation National Office in Auckland. Prepaid envelopes are available in each of our regional centres for this purpose. Please remember to include all relevant supporting material with your application in order for it to be processed.  

The Wellness Fund Application Form can also be downloaded here.  Please note, changes have been made to the types of grants available as of 1st April 2009.

Changes to the Wellness Fund

In order to ensure that these monies are best utilised in the coming months, and after consultation with all the New Zealand Peer Support organisations (PLWHA) a decision was reached to suspend both the Special and Travel Grants and return to having the Small Grants from 01 April at $500 per annum cap, incorporating travel so that you can decide how best to use these monies.

These small grants are for people living with HIV only and run on an annual basis from the date of application. A valid community services card is necessary in order to access these funds, which are to ensure that you receive comparable health care to any other New Zealander.

Wellness Fund Annual Report

Owing to its excellent uptake over the last 12 months, the monies remaining in the Wellness Fund now total only $30,000.

The New Zealand AIDS Foundations’ Wellness Fund was relaunched on 1 April 2008 and the revised fund increased the annual amount available from $500 to $750. It also included two new sections: a travel grant of up to $500 and a special Fund for up to $3000 to address costly issues that affected the long-term health and wellbeing of positive people.

The majority of applications in the latersection were to address dental work and to access Aquamid, to compensate for the effects of facial lipoatyrophy, a serious side effect with some antiretroviral medications and in particular for those who have been on treatments for a significant period.

The funds which had accumulated over time were very well accessed during the last year, and many positive people from across the country have seen significant benefits.

The financial breakdown of each section of this Fund until 31 March 2009 follows:

• Small Grant’s funded: $42,426
• Travel Grants funded: $10,618
• Special Grants funded: $103,580
• A total of $156,624 for 166 people (average $943)

• Total Grants funded in the Northern (Auckland) Region came to $101,801.  This covered applications from 68 men, five women and two children.
• Total Grants funded in the Midland (Waikato) Region came to $12,803.  This covered applications from 19 men and five women.
• Total Grants funded in the Central (Wellington) Region came to $25,000.  This covered applications from 19 men and ten women.
• Total Grants funded in the South Island Christchurch Region came to $17,018.  This covered applications from 34 men and four women.

Owing to excellent uptake over the last 12 months, the monies remaining in the fund now total $30,000. In order to ensure that these monies are best utilised in the coming months, and after consultation with all the New Zealand Peer support organisations (PLWHA), a decision was reached to return to having the small grants from 1 April at $500 per annum cap.

Further reading:

• Wellness Fund Application Form