UNAIDS warns that health authorities in most countries are not prepared to meet the needs that this population group will require in the coming years.
In 2018, the number of people over 50 years of age infected with the human immunodeficiency virus was 7.5 million, more than double the figure a decade earlier (3.3 million), according to data from the United Nations Programme on HIV/AIDS (UNAIDS). Life expectancy for those affected by HIV has increased rapidly thanks to antiretroviral therapy, but the increasingly advanced age of patients poses a challenge to health systems worldwide, the scientific journal "The Lancet" warned today.
"The Lancet," which is publishing a series of articles on HIV shortly before December 1, World AIDS Day, warns that health authorities in most countries are not prepared to meet the needs that this population group will require in the coming years.
"Life expectancy has advanced rapidly since the end of the 1990s. 59% of the 36.9 million people living with HIV are receiving antiretroviral therapy," says Jeffrey Lazarus, a researcher at the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal), in a statement from the scientific journal.
"However, that means that health systems are responsible for an increasing number of people with HIV who are aging," he adds.
A measure is being demanded that recognizes the importance of improving the quality of healthcare received by people living
Although antiretroviral treatments can suppress the HIV viral load, people who have been infected experience a much higher incidence of associated health problems. The Lancet warns that the HIV targets set so far by health authorities around the world do not take this factor into account.
For this reason, the researchers are calling on the United Nations to add to its work program "a measure that recognizes the importance of improving the quality of health care received by people living" with the virus, Lazarus points out.
While not forgetting the efforts to continue expanding antiretroviral treatments, adopting a "more holistic perspective on the well-being of people with HIV, rather than focusing solely on their viral load, can yield better results," the researcher explains.
Despite efforts to combat the stigma associated with HIV and the discrimination suffered by infected people, experts who have collaborated with The Lancet believe there is still a long way to go.
"Stigmatization can negatively affect the happiness, self-esteem, and sexual and social relationships" of those affected, the scientific journal emphasizes. The researchers stress in this regard that there is substantial evidence that there is no risk of sexual transmission of HIV when the viral load of an infected person has been suppressed.
Nearly 16 million infected people receiving treatment live in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 70% of the medicated HIV population.
The largest number of people living with HIV who have suppressed viral loads tend to be concentrated in higher-income countries. In the rest of the world, however, the number of people living with HIV who have a long life expectancy is also increasing.
According to the United Nations, nearly 16 million infected people receiving treatment live in sub-Saharan Africa, representing 70% of the medicated HIV population.
"There is an urgent need for governments and the private sector to plan for the infrastructure, workforce, and financing that will be needed over the next five to thirty years," emphasizes David Musoke of Makerere University in Uganda.
From: https://www.abc.es/salud/enfermedades/abci-personas-mayores-reto-sanitario-mundial-201912010059_noticia.html