Elderly persons relegated in HIV messaging

May 04, 2016

UNASO has noticed that the current available HIV messages are not age friendly because they predominantly target the youth and women, shelving older persons living with HIV

As Uganda continues to battle HIV/AIDS, some organizations are concerned that some Ugandans of certain age groups have been left out especially when it comes to HIV messaging for prevention, care and treatment.  

Elderly persons have been singled out as the age group  that has been sidelined in the HIV messaging, thus defeating the National HIV and AIDS Strategic Plan 2015/2016-2019/2020 which calls for the design and implementation of intervention that priorities the key population, elderly and people with disabilities (PWDs) in social support and protection services.

Uganda Network of AIDS Service Organization (UNASO) has noticed that the current available HIV messages are not age friendly because they predominantly target the youth and women, shelving older persons living with HIV.

The program assistant of UNASO, Martha Kawala, revealed that it is clear that there is lack of HIV messaging targeting older persons since older persons and the general population doesn't have similar levels of knowledge about HIV & AIDS due to variations in messaging.

"If older persons are not targeted in the HIV messaging then the UNAIDS target of 90-90-90 will not be achieved, where 90% of the people know their HIV status, 90% of people who know their status access HIV treatment and 90% of the people on HIV treatment achieve viral suppression by 2020, "she said during the stakeholders meeting on HIV messaging for elder persons at Kati Kati restaurant recently.

In the same meeting, Fredrick Ouma Bwire, the chief executive officer of Uganda Reach the Aged Association (URAA), regretted that little has been designed to attending to the aged people. Bwire's lamentation follows a study done by his organization together with HelpAge International which revealed that in Uganda, 150,000 aged 50 and above are living with HIV and their prevalence is estimated at 6.8%.

The study also shows that 65% of older persons are sexually active and 91% had never used a condom during sexual intercourse, and yet 63% of them take care of orphans and vulnerable children including those with HIV.

Similar studies on HIV and older persons have found common sexual behaviors of older persons with the general public and these include: having multiple sex partners, failing to use condoms, sex under the influence of alcohol and cross generational sex.

"This therefore calls for inclusion of older persons in the design and implementation of HIV messages in the National HIV Behavioral Communication programs.  Targeting older persons in HIV messaging is crucial for Uganda to achieve a society free of HIV and its impacts," said Bwire.

However, Dr. Kamba Baleke from the ministry of health planning unit said that many government health programs available are not age discriminatory even the aged can are benefiting from them including HIV/AIDS related programs.  

Uganda's population is estimated at 35 million of which 4.2% are persons aged 60 years and above (NPHC, 2014). Because of the growing pandemic, it is also evident that many of the positive people are graduating into old age with the virus while others without knowing their HIV status.

Other factors are also likely to be responsible for the difference in knowledge and prevalence of HIV in the general population and that of older persons. Sexual behavior, living conditions and the life style of older people especially those who have money are some of the factors that make older people particularly vulnerable.

Joseph Lule, 62, a resident of Busabala said, "We older people are sexually active and the more we grow older, the more you pick interest in young ladies. Many HIV studies and data collection concentrate on young people, women and married couples in their reproductive age groups hence no attention is paid to older persons,"

Some activists observe that many of the elderly persons are illiterate as they can neither read nor write, meaning that many of the messages that are produced in English and Luganda print cannot be accessed by the elderly people who have different forms of disabilities.

UNSASO suggests that there is need for special consideration during design of HIV messages so that all age groups are considered.
"Messages targeting older persons should be conveyed in their local language and through their community radios so that they can understand them well," stresses an official from UNASO.

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