Resources for National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day 2022
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Led by the AIDS InstituteExit Disclaimer, National HIV/AIDS and Aging Awareness Day (NHAAD) is observed each year on September 18th to focus on the increasing number of people living long, full lives with HIV. The awareness day also calls attention to the unique health and social needs, as well as the challenges of HIV prevention, testing, treatment, and care in older adults. Visit our resources page on HIV.gov for helpful information related to aging with HIV.
NHAAD is an important opportunity to raise awareness about HIV and AIDS and aging and to educate older adults about the importance of HIV screening, which gives individuals the information they need to either access HIV prevention services, such as PrEP, or be linked to care and treatment services to improve health outcomes.
Today, thanks to improvements in the effectiveness of care and treatment, people with HIV who are diagnosed early, and who get and stay on antiretroviral therapy, can keep the virus suppressed and live long and healthy lives. As a result, the number of older adults with HIV is growing. In 2018, more than half of people with diagnosed HIV in the United States were aged 50 and older.
For this reason, the National HIV/AIDS Strategy (2022-2025) adds a new focus on the needs of the growing population of people with HIV who are aging. Older people with HIV, particularly long-term survivors, face different health and psychosocial issues and require tailored HIV care and treatment services. This includes screening for, assessment of, and treatment of HIV-associated, non-AIDS conditions, as well as age-associated diseases for which people with HIV experience increased risk. It also includes addressing challenges such as social isolation or depression that many people aging with HIV face, especially those who are long-term survivors. Below are some resources on these and other important issues related to older adults with HIV.
Federal Communication Resources
Information on NHAAD and HIV prevention, care, and treatment for older adults can be found here:
- Administration for Community Living: HIV/AIDS
- CDC Fact Sheet: HIV and Older Americans
- HRSA HIV/AIDS Bureau: Optimizing HIV Care for People Aging with HIV
- HRSA Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program: Addressing the Health Care and Social Support Needs of People Aging with HIV
- HIV.gov: Aging with HIV
- HIV.gov: Supporting Long-Term Survivors of HIV
- HIVinfo.NIH.gov: HIV and Older People
- National Institute on Aging: HIV, AIDS, and Older Adults
The NHAAD logo, as well as NHAAD-specific and aging-related resources from federal agencies, is available on the HIV.gov NHAAD page.
Community Resources
The AIDS Institute Exit Disclaimerand the HIV/AIDS and Aging AwarenessExit Disclaimer websites provide facts about the prevalence of HIV among older adults, including a video addressing HIV stigma among older women.
For news about NHAAD, sign up to receive email updates from HIV.gov and follow @HIVgovExit Disclaimer.
To learn more, go to HIV.gov and learn more about CDC's Let's Stop HIV Together campaign resources. For more about HIV and awareness days, subscribe to our blog and use this awareness day topic tag.