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Older people living with HIV
According to the 2006 UNAIDS/WHO Report on the Global AIDS Epidemic, around 2.8 million people living with HIV/AIDS worldwide are aged 50 or older. However, epidemic monitoring continues to focus on the 15-49 year age group.
This sends an ambiguous and discriminatory message to programme implementers and policy makers. If older people remain invisible in statistics, governments and other institutions will not be able to respond effectively to the HIV epidemic.
Some countries have now started to collect data on people aged 50 and over. In most cases prevalence is similar to the national adult rate.
Table: HIV prevalance among the over-50s by country
| Kenya | Mozambique | South Africa | Swaziland | |||||
| Agegroup | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female | Male | Female |
| 50-54 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 6 | 14.8 | 5.2 | 29 | 24 |
| 55-59 | 4 | 3.8 | 4 | 2 | 11.6 | 2.1 | 17 | 10 |
| 60-64 (Swaz: 60+) | 3.8 | 2 | 1 | 0.8 | 7 | 0.7 | 14 | 7 |
Older carers
There is limited data is collection on who is providing care to people living with HIV and children orphaned or made vulnerable by AIDS.
Many people return home to their parents when they are diagnosed with HIV or become ill. A study in Asia found that 62% of older parents in Cambodia and 70% in Thailand co-resided with an adult prior to their death from an AIDS related illness.
HelpAge research into who provides care for people living with HIV has also highlighted the vital role older people play.
Graph: Percentage of people living with HIV cared for by older people
UNICEF's State of the World's Children 2007 report demonstrated the scale of orphaned and vulnerable children being cared for by older people (usually grandparents) in sub-Saharan Africa:
- 40% in Tanzania
- 45% in Uganda
- 50% in Kenya
- 60% in Namibia and Zimbabwe
HelpAge research has shown similar results.
