Next week the White House will be holding a meeting on HIV and Aging. The purpose of this meeting is to raise awareness about people who are aging with HIV or contracting HIV at age fifty or older; to explore the unique clinical manifestations of HIV in older adults; to discuss existing services for seniors living with HIV and highlight successes as well as gaps; and to discuss targeted strategies for federal and non-federal stakeholders to realize the vision of the President’s National HIV/AIDS Strategy. This meeting is part of a series of discussions that have been convened at the White House by the Office of National AIDS Policy (ONAP) over the past year. The invitees are leaders in the field of research on HIV Over Fifty and include Charles Emlet, PhD, Professor of Social Work at the University of Washington, Tacoma and Dr. Stephen Karpiak from ACRIA.
I am excited to learn of this meeting, as it tells us that the concerns of middle aged and older people living with HIV are being discussed at the national level. I will relay to readers the results of this meeting when I get them.