Is Your Grandmother An HIV/AIDS Risk?

Have you asked her if she practices safer sex? Does she even know what it is? If you find yourself laughing (or even smiling) at that notion, it may be time to break down the barriers between the Generations that imply that older Americans don't have intercourse, or if they do, they aren't at risk for contracting HIV/AIDS.

There is a cultural myth that says...

"Old people don't have sex," or "The elderly aren't at risk." Efforts are underway to get a different message out there. "We haven't been targeted with prevention messages so it gives us a false sense that we must not be as the same risk," says Jane Fowler, a 69-year-old AIDS activist who contracted the disease nearly two decades ago in a post-divorce dating relationship. She's created a website: http://www.HIVwisdom.org. HIV Wisdom.

In the popular southern counties in Florida including Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, 1 in 6 of all new HIV/AIDS cases are among people over age 50. And if your grandparents belong to an ethnic minority, are Latino or African-American, that age group represents 19-69% of the current HIV/AIDS population. Those living in public housing face an even greater risk. And that percentage is growing.


"If HIV enters this system, it could spead very rapidly . .because of the connections between people..."

or so says Ejijah Ward, Ph.D. In his studying of two public housing projects in Chicago, IL (3 projects) and Hartford, CT (6 projects) he found that while 38% of the residents over 50 had vaginal sex regularly, a significant amount of that was risky behavior. Further, 45% say they aren't likely at all to contract the virus. To read more, sign into the web, then EBSCO (through your college on-line library) and click this live link below.

PERCEPTION OF HIV/AIDS RISK AMONG URBAN, LOW-INCOME SENIOR-HOUSING RESIDENTS. By: Ward, Elijah G.; Disch, William B.; Levy, Judith A.; Schensul, Jean J.. AIDS Education & Prevention, Dec2004, Vol. 16 Issue 6, p571, 18p; (AN 15248268)

What You Can Do:

Don't assume anything about the older client sitting in front of you. If you haven't talked about HIV or sex, make a point of saying to every client (young AND old):

"I just learned a shocking statistic. 14% of all new HIV/AIDS cases are among people over 50. They are one of the fastest growing groups contracting this virus. I want to spend just a few minutes with each of my clients, today, talking about what safer sex is, and how to learn more about it."

If you aren't yet comfortable talking about this subject, write notes to yourself, or even read something you've prepared, photocopy it, and hand out the copies, complete with references.

Want to Learn More Yourself?

Check out The AIDS Action Committee for more information and links.