Document Type

Research Brief

Date

10-25-2016

Keywords

HIV, Aging, Stigma

Language

English

Disciplines

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Description/Abstract

In the early 1980s when Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), the cause Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), was first identified, life expectancy following diagnosis was approximately two years (Halkitis, 2013). With the advent of highly-active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) in the mid-1990s, life expectancy for people with HIV (PWH) increased sharply. PWH receiving HAART treatment shortly after diagnosis can now expect to live as long as uninfected individuals (van Sighem, Gras, Reiss, Brinkman, & de Wolf, 2010). As a result the population with HIV is aging. It is estimated that in 2015, 50% of PWH in the U.S. were age 50 and older (U. S. Senate Special Committee on Aging, 2005). However, part of this growth is due to new infections as adults 50 and older account for 17% of annual HIV diagnoses in the U.S. (Centers for Disease Prevention and Control, 2016). The ageing of the HIV population is being observed globally in high resource countries like Western Europe where HAART therapy is widely available (e.g., Kirwan et al., 2016). However, we are witnessing the same phenomenon in low resource settings like sub-Saharan Africa as access to HAART improves (Hontelez et al., 2012). It is estimated that 13% of HIV-infected adults in sub-Saharan Africa are age 50 and older, comprising 2 to 3 million individuals (Negin et al., 2015); 2 to 3 times the size of the entire U.S. population with HIV. Aging with HIV due to HAART is a success story, but this success brings with it a new set of challenges. Namely, short of a cure for HIV, how can we best address the burgeoning need for social care among this aging population? And how can we address the challenges to providing adequate social care for older PWH in both high and low resource settings?

Additional Information

This Policy Brief series is a collection of essays on current public policy issues in aging and related research published by Syracuse University Aging Studies Institute. Prior to 2014, this series was published as part of the Syracuse University Center for Policy Research (CPR) Policy Brief Series.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

Rights

© 2017 Syracuse University. This publication may be distributed freely for educational and research purposes as long as this copyright notice is attached. No commercial use of this material may be made without express written permission.

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