Addressing HIV Infection Risks and Consequences among the Elderly (> 50 years) Sub-Saharan Africans
- Author:
Niyi Awofeso
- Publication Type:Journal Article
- Keywords:
HIV infection;
elderly;
Auh;
Saharan African
- From:Malaysian Journal of Public Health Medicine
2012;12(Supplement 1):11-11
- CountryMalaysia
- Language:English
-
Abstract:
Although Africa is home to about 14.5% of the world's population, it is estimated that 67% of all people living with HIV and about 72% of all HIV/AIDS-related deaths in 2009 occurred among Africans. Between 2009 and 2010, life expectancy in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) was 52 years, Gross National Product per capita was $US1,165 and adult literacy rate was 62%. SSA‟s average Human Development Index (HDI) – a composite international measure of trends in education, income and life expectancy- rose modestly from 0.465 to 0.522 between 1990 and 2005. The life expectancy component of the HDI in SSA showed even slower progress, from 0.482 to 0.508, mainly due to HIV/AIDS-related premature mortality. Macroeconomic model studies funded by the Economic Commission for Africa in the most HIV/AIDS affected African countries indicate annual average decline in GDP per capita as far as 2025 would be in the order of 0.3% and 1.0%, due to the observed trends that HIV affected poorer and least productive sectors of the economy. However, such models focus on productivity in the formal sector, ignoring the reality in SSA, where subsistence farming, unpaid carer duties by the elderly and vulnerable employment constitute a critical portion of SSA‟s economy. Also, SSA lags behind other regions in terms of hunger reduction. Based on the 2010 Global Hunger Index report, between 1990 and 2010 there was no significant change in the proportion of chronically hungry people in SSA – about 390 million people or half of SSA‟s population are chronically hungry – i.e. subsist regularly on less than 1800 calories/day. The combined effects of poverty, under-nutrition and high HIV/AIDS have important socio-economic and mental health implications for elderly residents in SSA. A major social burden of HIV/AIDS is stigma, linked mainly to social and religious mores which associate HIV/AIDS infection with homosexuality and promiscuity. Stigma encumbers efforts at early case detection, and precipitates social exclusion for those affected. Elderly Africans living with HIV/AIDS are particularly vulnerable to such social exclusion and discrimination, given the massive erosion of social capital consequent upon HIV/AIDS diagnosis among this cohort.
HIV/AIDS affects social and economic development at many levels: individual, household, community, business, governmental, and macroeconomic. This presentation focuses on the socio-economic implications of HIV/AIDS among SSA‟s elderly. SSA‟s elderly currently endure the triple burden of having high HIV prevalence, lacking adequate social safety net, work fitness, or family support to fund management of the disease, and having to care for grandchildren orphaned by high injury, non-communicable disease and HIV/AIDS infection rates among younger adults. Evidence-based policies and programs to address HIV infection risks and consequences among SSA‟s elderly are discussed.
