HIV Stalks Older People

By Vision reporterWhile Uganda´s average HIV infection rate is coming down, a new epidemic appears to be emerging among the older people. Most of the new HIV infections in Uganda are now occurring among men and women aged 35 and above, a new scientific analysis has revealed.Dr. Rebecca Bunnell, associate director of science and evaluation with the US Centres for Disease Control (CDC) programme in Uganda, on Wednesday presented the findings to the 14th International AIDS Conference in Barcelona, Spain. Bunnell said HIV is now more prevalent among the older people whereas in the early 1990s the rates were highest among women aged 25 - 29 and men aged 35-39. She said some of the older people have grown with the infection from younger age groups. However, she said, their research showed that most of the people who are becoming newly infected are in the older age group. By analysing data from HIV testing sites of the AIDS Information Centre, Bunnell and her team found out that the declining infection rates for which Uganda is widely acclaimed is mainly among the youth. The rates have not declined among women older than 30 or men aged 40 and above.The analysis covered 20,171 clients who took HIV tests at sites of the AIDS Information Centre in Kampala, Jinja, Mbarara and Mbale between 1990 and 2000. “There are high rates of new infection among the older age group. We have been focussing our attention on the youth - which was good - but now we need to focus on older people,” she said. Meanwhile, Dr. Elizabeth Madraa, manager of the AIDS Control Programme, said, “there is need to re-strategise and see how we can target this (older) age group.” In an interview with The New Vision, Madraa said that the youth are more receptive to behaviour change messages compared to adults.Ends