People with HIV are living into old age – something that was inconceivable a few years ago. But while longer lives are of course welcome, it brings new challenges.
Hailed as the medical miracle of our lifetime, early HIV drugs got people off their death beds and back to lives changed, but not ended, by an incurable virus. The drugs were hard task-masters – people had to take handfuls of pills and the side effects were debilitating.
As 25,000 people gather in Washington for the 19th World Aids Conference, they will be discussing an issue those Vancouver delegates hardly dared dream of: the challenge of ageing with HIV.
As one man put it: “We are the first generation to get to their 50s and nobody is prepared for that.
“We are just going into the dark and nobody knows what we are going to be doing in 10 years.”
Modern HIV drugs are much easier to take, but the effects of living long-term with HIV and the side-effects of treatments are becoming clearer. Put simply, a 60-year-old with HIV is like a 70-year-old without it.
Alice, in her 50s, described the problem. “I take strong medication and I feel blank and dizzy sometimes. It is not easy to walk and do the shopping, carrying heavy bags.”
Older people with HIV have twice as many age-related health conditions as their HIV negative peers. High blood pressure, kidney and liver problems and arthritis are common, so a focus on diet and exercise is particularly important. It is clear, too, that there is work to be done to bring health and social care services up to speed with the needs of older people with HIV.
Research carried out by Terrence Higgins Trust (THT) and Age UK repeatedly found stories of discrimination, ignorance and poor clinical treatment in general health services. With the right support, it’s possible to live a healthy life into old age with HIV. But equally important is the financial support to do so, and for many, that’s a huge concern.
Worries about money and increasing ill health and feelings of loneliness or isolation are common for older people with HIV, again amplified versions of those their HIV negative peers report. There will be the usual debates in Washington about how best to prevent HIV from spreading, about whether a cure is a reasonable ambition, and how to support the millions of people with HIV around the world to live long and healthy lives.
Article taken in part from www.bbc.co.uk
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