Study shows HIV prevalence rising in older adults, but prevention focusses youth

A groundbreaking study has uncovered a critical healthcare oversight in HIV prevention targeting older populations. Researchers from Wits University found that HIV prevalence in adults over 50 is matching or even surpassing rates among younger individuals. Current intervention strategies overwhelmingly focus on youth, creating significant gaps in testing, treatment, and awareness for older adults. These findings underscore the urgent need to redesign HIV prevention and support programs to more comprehensively address the unique challenges faced by the 50+ age group.

"We often think of HIV as a disease of younger people" - Dr. Luicer Olubayo, Wits University

Older adults are increasingly acquiring HIV, but are underrepresented in prevention and treatment campaigns, which is more focused on youth, according to a study.

Key Points

1 HIV prevalence exceeds youth rates in older adults

2 Prevention campaigns critically underserve 50+ population

3 Testing and awareness remain low for elderly

4 Mental health and stigma pose additional challenges

 

The study, published in The Lancet Healthy Longevity, showed that the prevalence of HIV in older adults is exceeding that of younger adults. However, prevention and treatment campaigns are not adequately targeting the particular needs of the 50+ year age group, said researchers from Wits University in South Africa who investigated HIV in older people in Kenya and South Africa.

 

"We often think of HIV as a disease of younger people. It doesn't help that intervention campaigns are mainly targeted at the youth," said Dr. Luicer Olubayo, a researcher at the Sydney Brenner Institute for Molecular Bioscience (SBIMB) at Wits.

Moreover, the study showed that older adults are less likely to believe that they can get HIV.

This misconception is pervasive and has consequences for reaching global targets to achieve UNAIDS' 95-95-95 targets by 2030 (95 per cent of people living with HIV know their status, 95 per cent of people who know their status are on treatment, and 95 per cent have a suppressed viral load).

"While HIV prevalence among individuals over 50 years of age is similar to or even exceeds that of younger adults, HIV surveys focus on younger individuals, leaving considerable gaps in understanding HIV prevalence, incidence, and treatment outcomes in older populations," said F. Xavier Gomez-Olive, Associate Professor at the MRC/Wits-Agincourt Research Unit.

Further, the uptake of HIV testing among older adults is poor, which delays diagnosis and limits access to care.

This is, indeed, one of the signifiers of the pervasiveness of the stigma surrounding the disease, said the team stressing the need to boost interventions to support older people's mental health and overall well-being.

Interventions could focus on repeated testing, the use of pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP), and campaigns to increase awareness and reduce infections among the elderly.

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