By Grace Birnstengel
HIV/AIDS used to be considered a disease of the young. In the early 1980s, when doctors first reported cases of HIV, nearly 70% of diagnoses were among people under 40.
Fast forward four decades later and more than 50% of Americans with HIV are now over 50. And by 2020 that number is expected to reach 65% to 70%. This is largely due to major medical improvements in the effectiveness of anti-retroviral therapy (ART) in suppressing the virus and transforming HIV from an often fatal disease into a chronic condition, like diabetes or hypertension.
But health care, services and supports for Americans with HIV/AIDS hasn’t adapted its approaches to match this demographic shift. Prevention, testing and care efforts are focused on younger people…