Elderly AIDS blog - Pizzi

New York City's Department of Aging is trying to educate the elderly on HIV prevention. New York City has the highest number of AIDS cases in the country, and in the next ten years the majority of the HIV patients in New York City will be over 50-years old. The Agency passed out condoms and offered HIV testing at a city senior center as part of their effort.

A few senior citizens were confused as to why they needed this education since many people in the crowd were averaging 70-years old. Many people wouldn't think (or wouldn't like to think) that the elderly were using drugs and having sex, but this is not true...they are. A physician from Howard University Hospital diagnosed HIV to an 82-year old! One senior citizen from the article said that if she had the chance to use the condoms, she would.

I wanted to investigate if Syracuse University's Center of Gerontology is doing anything to help with the growing population of elderly HIV patients. So, I interviewed the Assistant Director of Gerontology, Martha Bonney who said the Gerontology Center had recently received funding to start researching elderly HIV patients living in the Central New York area. This will be a different study from the studies conducted in New York City because Central New York is a more suburban area.

Bonney said this research is important to the Gerontology Center because with the antiretroviral drugs (advances in HIV/AIDS medicine) HIV patients are living longer and struggling with health issues that are "exacerbated by the simple process of aging." The Director of Gerontology, Madonna Harrington Meyer and a faculty affiliate, Andrew London have started the study, and estimate 12 to 24 months until completion.