| Abstract: | Females over the age of fifty are the invisible victims of the HIV epidemic. The Federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that ten percent of all women diagnosed with AIDS by June 1994 were over fifty years of age. Midlife-and-older women with AIDS are not being diagnosed until late in the disease process, sometimes after death. CDC statistics show that the mode of transmission is changing. Women in these age groups are acquiring the disease through heterosexual contact, rather than transfusions. The difficulty remains with the health care providers who are often not adequately prepared to diagnose and treat midlife-and-older women with HIV/AIDS. A seminar, co-sponsored by the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP) and the Center for Women's Policy Studies (CWPS), has raised several issues regarding HIV in older women. Many behavioral and physiological risk factors are overlooked. In addition, diagnosis and treatment of HIV infection in older women is complicated by other aging factors, and socioeconomic and cultural factors limit access to care and treatment. The AARP and CWPS recommend developing programs to educate physicians about primary and secondary HIV prevention counseling. They also recommend developing partnerships with institutions that have access to older women in order to transmit prevention messages. |
