ith the HIV/AIDS epidemic now in its third decade, and with an array of resources targeted at “high-risk” populations—gay men, intravenous drug users, young people, communities of color—one group remains largely overlooked. Whether the issue is prevention, diagnosis, medical care, or social services, the special needs of older adults are seldom a priority.

But the fact is that older adults are a significant and growing part of this ongoing epidemic:

 Older adults are not immune. According to the most recent figures published by the New York City Department of Health, approximately 16 percent of those newly diagnosed with AIDS and HIV in the first half of 2002 had passed their 50th birthdays at the time of diagnosis.

 As people with AIDS live longer, they age into the middle-aged and older HIV population. Almost one-fourth of New Yorkers living with HIV and AIDS in mid-2002 were over the age of 50. People with AIDS and HIV are living significantly longer today than ever before in the epidemic, and both the number and the proportion of the HIV population who are over 50 can only continue to grow.

 AIDS can mean a second round of parenting for older adults. When a young parent with AIDS dies or becomes very ill, it often falls to the grandparents to care for and raise the children, either temporarily or permanently. And many of those children are HIV-positive themselves.

he New York Association on HIV Over Fifty, Inc., exists to address these and other issues related to aging and HIV. Click here to learn more about our goals and activities.

NYAHOF membership meetings are held approximately every six weeks and are open to all interested individuals and organizations. For the time and place of the next meeing, call us at (212) 367-1009 or email info@nyahof.org and/or ednys2003@yahoo.com.