National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day 2017

Monday, September 18, marks National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day (NHAAD) 2017. Launched by The AIDS Institute in 2008, the day draws attention to the issues of HIV awareness, prevention, testing, care and treatment among the aging population. This includes highlighting the growing number of grandparents caring for children who lost parents because of HIV.

Notably, NHAAD also stresses the need for more medical research and knowledge to better understand the impact of HIV on the aging process.

According to information on NHAAD.org, one in six new cases (about 18 percent) of HIV in the United States are among people 50 and older. What’s more, one in four HIV-positive adults in the United States are 50 or older.

HIV.gov notes that the key message of this year’s NHAAD is “Together we can age without HIV.”

According to The AIDS Institute, the awareness day campaign includes three specific targets:

people living with HIV who are aging with the disease or already over 50 at the time of their initial diagnosis,
the need to increase the prevention of HIV, especially among the baby boomer population and
the increasing number of grandparents who are becoming the primary guardians for children who have lost their parent(s) to HIV/AIDS.

The AIDS Institute offers training resources and educational webinars regarding aging and HIV. To download NHAAD infographics like the ones in this article, click here.

For related articles, read the September 2017 POZ cover story “Close to You: Aging With HIV Doesn’t Have to Mean Living Without Love” and the AIDS United blog post by Eric Jannke of Let’s Kick ASS Palm Springs “Struggle, Self-Love & Survival: Growing Old With HIV.”